As I write this, I am sitting at my desk after hours in my lab. I am about to complete 12 hours without my cellphone, free of the matrix. And it feels TERRIBLE. What if someone called me? Texted me? I hate this! It all started as an accident, really. I ran out of my apartment this morning for work and left it sitting there on the table. By the time I realized it, I was getting out of my car in my department parking lot. Let me tell you, after having that phone attached as an umbilical cord, not having it struck me with feelings of panic for the first 2 or 3 hours. I felt so out of touch with the world, even with my laptop sitting here in front of me. As the day went on however, I started to acclimate myself to this normal, strange, unattached existence. No ESPN alerts. No facebook messages. No notifications of a new email/text. Nothing. Silence when I walk. And I kind of liked it...until I remembered I didn't have my phone. My pockets felt lighter, and I honestly think I was/am suffering from feelings of withdrawal. I can't be the only one who feels like this. Please comment if it has happened to you, and how on earth you think our parents and grandparents made it without a constant electronic connection in our pocket and on our hip.
I once went a semester without a computer. It was actually really freeing. I occasionally fantasize about having the self-control to do that again, on purpose.
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