Lost and Found.
Last Saturday, I woke up and realized I had traded my iPhone for a hangover. My trusty sidekick had been lost in a fit of drunken foolishness. Somewhere in Tokyo, it was possible that somebody was having fun clicking through essentially what had become an encapsulation of my life–my music, my contacts, my photos, even my thoughts typed into discrete notes. This was a bad thing–I felt like I had lost a friend and a personal assistant.
Luckily, one of the great things about living in Tokyo is that the locals rarely steal. Phones, wallets, purses are regularly returned to their owners with contents intact. The New York Times describes the phenomenon here. I confidently went to the local police box and reported my missing iPhone. Then, I went to Softbank and got me a temporary replacement phone, a regular bare-bones cell phone to get me by till some honest Tokyoite returns my iBaby. The temporary phone was a huge step down, but I thought, someone is surely going to return my iPhone in a couple days and I could chuck my primitive replacement device to the side for emergencies. Afterall, this is Tokyo: People have scruples here.
The first day without my iPhone was tough! At every moment of idleness–waiting for my food at a restaurant, sitting in the train–I would instinctively reach for my iPhone to check my emails or Facebook. Without access to my apps, I had absolutely nothing to do! How did people survive before the iPhone? Not only was I constantly bored, but I had this nagging feeling that I was missing out on something (an email? a Facebook post? a tweet?). I felt like I was living in the Stone Age, or at least in the 80′s.
Then, a funny thing happened. I started looking around and noticed things. A painting on the wall. A chair. The pattern in the flooring. Before, these things would have been completely ignored in a wash of news feeds and trending topics. But now I was noticing them, and it was actually pleasant. Not being constantly plugged in, I realized, had some merits….
A few days passed and I started questioning the integrity of the Tokyo people. No one had returned my iPhone to the police. What was supposed to be a minor inconvenience was turning into a serious lifestyle change. My temporary cellphone did not have access to the Internet, so emails and Facebook had to wait until I got home. At first this was incredibly annoying and even somewhat scary, but after a few days, it was nice not having to constantly react to digital messages. I stopped worrying about answering urgent emails and status updates. I realized that, actually, nothing was so important that it couldn’t wait until I got home.
Another change was how I would go to an unfamiliar place. I had to actually work out how to get there, whereas before, I would just follow the blue dot on my iPhone until I arrived. Without a GPS system, I had to use logic, memory and mental map skills to find my destination. I transformed from being a follower to a navigator.
Maybe the most surprising outcome of life without my iPhone is that I feel like I have more time. I didn’t realize how much time I was spending (wasting?) constantly getting my digital fix. Not only do I have more time to do things I enjoy, but when I do something, whether it be talking to someone, thinking or writing, I do it with my complete attention–without being distracted by alerts and push notifications.
It’s been 1 week since I lost my iPhone and I have pretty much given up on ever getting it back. But, I feel like it was a blessing in disguise. If I ever get a new one, my relationship with it will be completely different. It will just be a tool I use in times of necessity, not something that uses me.
As for my temporary replacement phone, it’s now become, my new main squeeze.
P.S. One more thing, if you really want to know who your most important friends are, lose your phone, get a new phone and see whose numbers you punch in first.
