The Tragedy of a Broken Phone

Last night when arriving home from softball I put my wallet, water bottle and phone on top of my car. I do this a lot. Some might say too much. But nothing truly "bad" has happened. That streak came to an end last night.

While putting things away in my trunk I heard something slide down. I assumed it was my water bottle. It was, but my phone also slid down into the crack between my trunk and car door. I thought nothing of it and went to retrieve my stuff. Well when I grabbed my phone it was completely turned off. I did not turn it off. I was listening to a podcast when I was doing this in fact. The fact that the pod stopped playing should have been my first clue that something was off. When I grabbed the phone I noticed that my screen protector was really warped and my case had some dings on it. That was when I knew something was messed up. The fact that this stuff was warped, that the pod shut off and that I couldn't turn my phone on had me nervous.

When I got inside I took a deep breath and realized that my phone was totally broken. It wouldn't turn on. I tried all the tricks. My wife has an iPhone so I looked up what to do. I tried all the tricks and came up empty every time. This was not good. Usually after softball I like to play on my phone in bed after I shower. It is my way of winding down. I know these are totally first world problems as well. I do not mean to sound like an asshole. When I figured I couldn't play any games or read any stories on my phone the usual anxiety set in for me. I had so many questions dancing in my brain. "What if they can't fix it"? "Can I go to the Genius Bar without an appointment"? "How can I set an appointment if my phone is not working"? "What if my kids need help in school"? "This is not going to be good". "This is going to be expensive". "I'm probably going to have to buy a whole new phone". All of that, and so much more, was making my mind race. I'm a worrier, and when something goes wrong I think of the worst possible outcome. It is never the simple answer for me.

Of course I was able to walk to the Apple Store and tell them what was wrong this morning. The worker there told me they see this problem all the time. I have insurance on my phone. I don't have to buy a new one because they can fix it in store for me. My kids are good, and school can always contact my wife if there is a real emergency. I didn't think about any of those things, any of the stuff that happened mere hours ago.

So while I sit here and wait for my "new" phone, they just replaced the messed up parts inside of the phone, to set back up I have begun to think about my attachment to this little piece of metal and plastic. We all are addicted to our phones and devices. It is a real problem. "Black Mirror" has a great episode about this very thing in their most recent season. I was worried and couldn't sleep well because I didn't know what I would do without my cell phone. I understand that they are incredibly useful and needed, but to put myself through the worry, that upsets me. My phone isn't the end all be all. I have plenty of other things to do in the home that I own with my wife and kids. I have books galore I can read. I have guitars. I have a basketball hoop. But I let myself worry about my phone. I need to make some changes. A missing phone shouldn't add that much stress to my life. Who cares that I wasn't available when most people are asleep or at work. My phone is still in the process of updating, which will most likely take another hour or so, but I'm not just going to sit here and wait for it to be done before moving on with my day. I'm writing this. I'm going to go for a run soon. I have to take out the trash and water my grass. I have plenty of things that are not phone related that need to be done.

The lesson? I'm going to set a goal for myself to not be as connected to my phone as I was before. What I did last night was a bonehead move, but it has definitely made me reconsider how much time I spend on that thing. Changes will be made. That is my main lesson from all of this. Let's connect in other ways than just our phones.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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