Phone Fast.
So I went a week (5 days really) without a phone and I thought it’d be interesting to detail what my experience was and what lessons I learned about myself and in general. This isn’t the first “phone fast” I’ve done. I’m broke and I’ve been broke before, so not having a phone or much of anything is sadly something I’ve grown accustomed to. We’ll get into that in the future.
My Best Judgement VS. Everyone.
One of the first realizations was, I’m right, once again. My last phone suffered the “Black Screen of Death” this is when your phone screen no longer turns on even if your phone is still active. This could happened to your device if you’re constantly leaving your phone on especially at night when charging your phone. Long story short my trusted, beloved Galaxy S8 suffered it’s death and it is all of your fault. All of you who made it seem like I’m wrong for turning my phone off at night when I go to sleep. I listened to you all for a year and look what happened? Further increased my credit card debt buying a new phone that I will and have been turning off at night.
Every Day “Tough” Task.
It’s safe to say every day task took a hit for me to some degree. Like others, I use and need my phone to make money and to check my money. Depending on the app, that was something I could not do during my phone fast. Here are a few of those apps that I use. Check them out for yourself and you decided if they’re worth your time or not.
Streetbees (my favorite): 6179VAO http://onelink.to/streetbees
“Current” Music Streaming App: https://crrnt.me/0hrRkNsimcb
BigToken: https://invite.bigtoken.com/apXRXRZcwKut4VPw9
BuzBreak: http://bit.ly/39RLP91
I have a YouTube channel dedicated to reviewing these apps and showing off proof of authenticity (payment proof) and I warn viewers about the apps they should avoid using https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkWwVI7z346KlFFPOfKpcew.
Not only could I not use the apps I needed to be active on, I found it somewhat difficult to organize my thoughts. All of my notes were on my phone, whether it’d be blog post ideas, clothing/merch ideas, video ideas, ect. My first realization was that I relied too much on my phone to do things I could easily do without it.
Phone Fast Clarity.
Thankfully I have pens and paper. Some people might consider scribing an outdated and tedious act, but if your mind isn’t as sharp as it used to be and all of your thoughts are on your phone, once that phone goes, so does your mind. I know you can probably access info like contacts, notes and other things stored on your phone on the web, but if you don’t back anything up to the Cloud, what else do you do? Get off your lazy ass, find a writing utensil and paper, get back on your lazy ass and write that info down. It didn’t take losing a phone for me to pick up a pen and paper, I’ve been writing, actually writing for years despite living in the text/tech era, but I wasn’t note taking. I wrote down blog pieces and drafted books. All of my note taking was on my phone and because of that, I had to base my notes on paper from memory and I’m glad I did. My phone fast wasn’t all roses and sunshine. One of the most important task I use my phone for is counting calories. Sure, I don’t need a phone to do math (addition) but I do use a calorie tracker and did not want to run to my laptop every time I wanted to Google the number of calories something I had. This is where having a phone makes life easier and cheaper. Instead of having to spend money on another note book and dedicating to calorie counting, I can download an app that’ll do it all for me with ease. In an ironic turn of events NOT having a phone made me more stationary. For those 5 days I was lazy and lacked motivation to do much of what my daily routine was because of one temporary change, not having a phone. I cheated on my diet and pretty much ate what I want (with nutrition in mind) and I didn’t workout as much (which was stupid of me not to do). Productivity pretty much stayed the same in other fields. Whatever work that could be done on my laptop still got done and the time I would’ve used on my phone with the money making apps was spent binging phone reviews to help me decide what my next phone would be. I felt a little “off” podcasting. I usually edit and record my podcast on my phone, but with no phone to use as a microphone, I had to use my laptop and zoom to record the episodes. This WILL NOT be a common practice of mine unless I have a guest. I’ve reverted back to recording the episodes on my phone and for those wondering, I’m not getting a “real” podcast setup until I get my phone place (and more money). My audio still sounds great, listen for yourself. https://anchor.fm/ernestthoughtspodcast. https://anchor.fm/My2centspodcast. This “off” feeling only lasted the first two of the 5 day unintentional fast. For the rest of the days, leading to now, I found myself to be happier, more positive minded and “freer” I did not miss Twitter/social media at all. I’ve had these thoughts for a long time but when I’m not on it as much or have “easy access” to it, it feels good not to be subjected to bullshit. Some of the clarity I received was this (the internet) is nothing but hellscape and I should continue using it as a tool to promote, create content and make meaningful connections and most importantly, spend significantly less time on. I have my pens, note books and book ideas. Being off social media for 5 days made me realize how much I don’t belong. I can’t keep “toughen” through toxic spaces like it’s a norm I should be living. You’re not weak if you can’t take it. You’re just not a monster like the rest. If you think you’re missing out on world events, you’re not. What really needs to be discussed and shared on social media isn’t. There are those of us exposing these truths and being censored and punished for it because the United States meddling in other countries elections is far less important than Kim and Kanye’s divorce or Lady Gaga’s missing dog. None of my phone fasts were intentional, but this one helped me look deep inward and ask myself these questions. I feel others might also get some insight about themselves as long as they are being honest with themselves. Remember, this isn’t Facebook, you don’t have to tell anyone anything.
- Why am I on here? (anyone social media site)
- Is this app serving me in any way? (be specific with each app if yes)
- Does this app make me feel good?
- Who am I?
- Why am I?
I wish you the best of luck and clarity if you’re going to ask yourself these questions. If you’re wondering, yes, I’m still on social media. There is s future of social media platforms that I’m hopeful for and I will make a separate piece about those platforms later on.
