Could You Live Without Your Smartphone?

Life has become very dependent on the cellular phone. People can’t go out of home without it, and if they forget it at home, they feel as if they have left some important part of themselves at home.

It is true to say that the cellular phone, and especially the smartphone, has turned into an extension of the human body.

Let me ask you, what would happen, if you leave your phone at home on purpose? I mean, for just for a few hours.

Would you feel bad, stressed, unsafe and unhappy?

What would happen, if for just a few hours you don’t see what your friends wrote of Facebook, or other social network?

Would you feel like a cigarette smoker, or drug addict, who has been deprived of cigarettes or drugs?

Young people can hardly imagine how the world before the cellular phone was. This small instrument has become such an integral part of their lives and they cannot imagine life without it. Actually, people of all ages cannot spend time without it.

How was life before the age of the smartphone? People lived and existed. They were more aware of what was happening around them, unlike people today, who divide their attention between the screen of the phone and the world around them. People also, had real relationships with people, not virtual relationships

I would like you to do an experiment.

For just one day, when you leave home to go to work or to school, don’t take your phone with you. Leave it at home. Can you do that?

I can imagine hearing you say, “What! I wouldn’t do that. This is impossible.” Just the thought of being without your phone, even for a short while, is probably making you feel stressed.

Let me ask you, “Who’s the boss, you, or your phone?”

Now, you might bring up a lot of reasons why you need to have your phone with you:

• “What if you wife or husband needs you?”
• “What if there is some emergency and you need a phone?”
• “You need to connect with your friends.”
• “You need to read the news.”

These are just a few of the many excuses you might think of.

All the reasons are right, but people lived without phones, and they lived quite well without them.

It’s okay, if no one knows where you are for a few hours. It won’t be the end of the world.

Without your phone, you will be aware of the world around you. Even food will taste differently, because you will focus on eating when you eat, not on what’s going on the screen of your phone.

Leaving your phone at home requires inner strength and willpower, and therefore, it is a great exercise for developing these powers. It is not an easy thing to do, and if you do it, it is a real achievement and a great gain.

You know what? I’ll make it easier for you. Take your phone with you in your pocket or purse, but switch it off, until you come home. This will give you a feeling of safety. However, you will need to exhibit inner strength all day long, not to give in to the desire to switch on your phone.

Another variation of the exercise is to switch off your phone, now and then, for about thirty minutes. Of course, don’t do this when you are expecting an important call

Will you try this exercise?