Friday, April 11, 2014

Life without a smartphone -- The better and the worse

It happens when you least expect about it. On one fine evening, I was on the scooter with my mum going to my aunt's place when one of my worst nightmares happened. I call it a nightmare because I did not dread about it, but I started once I faced the situation. I guess people who are so attached with their phones go through which I went through

I was so lazy in the evening on that day that I was still on my pyjamas, got on the bike and put my phone in the pocket which  did not have a zip. I was taking a turn near my aunt's home when I realised that my left pocket seemed lighter. The phone had slipped off and fell on the road. Worst thing another bike went over and it! . My heart stopped for a couple of seconds and my brain went blank. My darling phone had just been run over by a bike ;(

Having no faith left that the phone could be repaired, I  took it to an authorised service centre anyways.  later on ,I was  told that my Xperia ZR's screen is way different from the others. Both the touch screen and the panel are fused together in some way and there was no option to source the panel. When I enquired a bit more about it in the Sony forums, I was told that it would cost around 70% of the MRP price for the screen :0 . That means around ten thousand bucks for the damned screen! 

Leaving with no other option, I started using my mum's phone for a month. There was no update what so ever from the service centre for this whole period. It only created more aggravation within me as I was very much attached to my phone. So much so that I would even take it to the loo with me and read my daily dose of BBC news and flip board there. I recapped what has happened for two months without it and this is what I realised. Couldn't go for the morning jog because I was depending on run keeper. Would not read the news as I used to as I would only do so in the loo (We no longer get BBC on our cable TV nowadays) . Stopped listening to songs even though I had a yoga tab with me. One of my friend loaned me his Apple iPad for a while to see if I could adapt to it but, that wasn't helping me much either. Being obsessed with photography, my Instagram feed was always running. Even that activity had come to a halt. These were some of the bad instances which I faced and could not do anything from my end.

Coming to the good, the two months gave me ample opportunity to detach from my virtual  life. Sometimes, you take your phone for granted as your best buddy. There is a life outside the interconnected world which we access through applications like whatsapp,viber,messenger and what not . Not having these for two months would also mean that I had to groom my self to go outside more often, meet my friends and perhaps travel to places to do the same. Did I feel good? Initially no.But as time progressed , I realised that hanging out with the people you care and who give you some great time made more sense then doing so virtually. Overall, it has been a mixed bag. I have decreased my phone usage now and stay online only when I need to be there. There are always two sides to a coin and the case is the same when you adapt smarter technology.