I broke my phone the other day. It had been so long since I had been without my phone, I hadn’t realised how completely I had come to rely on it. This is the schedule of my day without my dear, precious smartphone:
10.37 pm - smash phone.
10.38 pm - shocked silence.
10.39 pm - frantic on/off button pressing denial.
10.55 pm - acceptance.
10.56 pm - realisation that it’s too late to get a new phone and I’ll be without one the next day.
11.15 pm - unable to set alarm for work in the morning.
11.16 pm - decide to call my boyfriend; ask that he rings me in the morning to make sure I get up for work.
11.17 pm - realise that no call is possible, as I had decided when moving into my apartment that I didn’t need the expense of a landline.
11.25 pm - find old alarm clock and set it.
11.30 pm to 6.45 am - constantly waking up to check the time, certain that the alarm won’t work.
6.45 am - decide to get up early, seeing as I’m already awake.
7.00 am - alarm goes off while I'm in the shower.
7.15 am - go to check the weather app to see if it's cool enough to wear pants today.
7.16 am - have to make a blind clothing choice. Make executive decision to wear pants anyway, as nothing else is clean.
8.00 am - at bus stop. Unable to listen to music, have to listen to a woman who is having a loud conversation with a child about how apartment buildings are made of “big concrete walls”.
8.02 am - realise it’s definitely too hot for pants; I'm sweating already.
8.10 am - on bus. Unable to check Sydney Transport app to see if I'll make my connecting train.
8.15 am - can’t stop for a coffee, as I'm not sure if I'll make the train. Is it the 8.21 or 8.31 train that I usually catch?
8.17 am - at train station. It is the 8.31 train.
8.25 am - apartment lady is getting the same train as me; she is still, if you can believe it, talking about apartment buildings. She has coffee.
9.00 am - at work. Realise I missed the open call for coffee that went out to my work’s WhatsApp group. Every other person in my team has coffee.
10.30 am - morning break, finally coffee time. I am the only person looking around, while waiting at the coffee shop. There are a couple of emails I need to reply to; I’d planned to do that on the train this morning.
12.30 pm - am meeting a friend for lunch but need to quickly log into Facebook to message my boyfriend so he knows I don’t have a phone. What on earth is my Facebook password?
12.34 pm - boyfriend informed of dilemma. Would love to check my emails but I’m already late, plus I don’t remember that password either.
12.40 pm - foot traffic is a b*tch on Pitt Street; would like to message my friend and say I’m running late but…
12.43 pm - want to check how late I’m actually running, but haven’t worn a watch in years.
12.46 pm - meet friend and relay broken phone story.
12.55 pm - order lunch. Had been calorie counting this week but can’t check how many calories are in the chicken sandwich. The kilojoules are on the menu; can’t convert to calories without the app.
2.00 pm - wonder how many Instagram likes I’ve had on the photo I posted last night.
2.01 pm - wonder if anyone commented on it.
2.02 pm - hope no one is offended that I haven’t liked their possible reply.
3.15 pm - finally check emails on my afternoon break: do I really get this many emails in one day? (Most of them are spam).
5.10 pm - would like to call my mum and whinge about the phone smashing incident, but even if I had a phone I don't have her mobile number. Why on earth haven’t I memorised that for emergencies?
6.00 pm - purchase new phone.
7.30 to 10.30 pm - home. Set up new phone.
10.37 pm - happy sigh.
10.37 pm - smash phone.
10.38 pm - shocked silence.
10.39 pm - frantic on/off button pressing denial.
10.55 pm - acceptance.
10.56 pm - realisation that it’s too late to get a new phone and I’ll be without one the next day.
11.15 pm - unable to set alarm for work in the morning.
11.16 pm - decide to call my boyfriend; ask that he rings me in the morning to make sure I get up for work.
11.17 pm - realise that no call is possible, as I had decided when moving into my apartment that I didn’t need the expense of a landline.
11.25 pm - find old alarm clock and set it.
11.30 pm to 6.45 am - constantly waking up to check the time, certain that the alarm won’t work.
6.45 am - decide to get up early, seeing as I’m already awake.
7.00 am - alarm goes off while I'm in the shower.
7.15 am - go to check the weather app to see if it's cool enough to wear pants today.
7.16 am - have to make a blind clothing choice. Make executive decision to wear pants anyway, as nothing else is clean.
8.00 am - at bus stop. Unable to listen to music, have to listen to a woman who is having a loud conversation with a child about how apartment buildings are made of “big concrete walls”.
8.02 am - realise it’s definitely too hot for pants; I'm sweating already.
8.10 am - on bus. Unable to check Sydney Transport app to see if I'll make my connecting train.
8.15 am - can’t stop for a coffee, as I'm not sure if I'll make the train. Is it the 8.21 or 8.31 train that I usually catch?
8.17 am - at train station. It is the 8.31 train.
8.25 am - apartment lady is getting the same train as me; she is still, if you can believe it, talking about apartment buildings. She has coffee.
9.00 am - at work. Realise I missed the open call for coffee that went out to my work’s WhatsApp group. Every other person in my team has coffee.
10.30 am - morning break, finally coffee time. I am the only person looking around, while waiting at the coffee shop. There are a couple of emails I need to reply to; I’d planned to do that on the train this morning.
12.30 pm - am meeting a friend for lunch but need to quickly log into Facebook to message my boyfriend so he knows I don’t have a phone. What on earth is my Facebook password?
12.34 pm - boyfriend informed of dilemma. Would love to check my emails but I’m already late, plus I don’t remember that password either.
12.40 pm - foot traffic is a b*tch on Pitt Street; would like to message my friend and say I’m running late but…
12.43 pm - want to check how late I’m actually running, but haven’t worn a watch in years.
12.46 pm - meet friend and relay broken phone story.
12.55 pm - order lunch. Had been calorie counting this week but can’t check how many calories are in the chicken sandwich. The kilojoules are on the menu; can’t convert to calories without the app.
2.00 pm - wonder how many Instagram likes I’ve had on the photo I posted last night.
2.01 pm - wonder if anyone commented on it.
2.02 pm - hope no one is offended that I haven’t liked their possible reply.
3.15 pm - finally check emails on my afternoon break: do I really get this many emails in one day? (Most of them are spam).
5.10 pm - would like to call my mum and whinge about the phone smashing incident, but even if I had a phone I don't have her mobile number. Why on earth haven’t I memorised that for emergencies?
6.00 pm - purchase new phone.
7.30 to 10.30 pm - home. Set up new phone.
10.37 pm - happy sigh.
