I’m chronically online. I know it’s embarrassing, and I understand way more jokes than I should, but I can’t help it. When I walk alone in the hallway, I scroll on Instagram reels. When I’m lying in my bed at home after school, I watch TikToks about Ash Trevino and get ads for Ashwagandha. It’s a new year and the same old me, so I will try to live one week without my phone. My communication, my entertainment, and the worst thing I own.
Before I go phoneless, I want to set some goals: be more productive, fix my sleeping schedule, and be more active. I hope to find ways to entertain myself without a screen, finish all my homework on time, go to bed when I’m tired, and get myself to the YMCA. So, I will be documenting each day here!
Day 1: The hardest…?
Today just felt a bit odd. While finishing a class it felt weird to leave empty-handed. As my dad likes to say when he forgets to wear a hat, “I feel naked”. One hard part was how accustomed I was to always having my phone. In my head, I thought about texting someone or wanting to look for a photo, but I couldn’t. Besides having a somewhat fun phone-free day, my least favorite part was when life just threw the unexpected at me. After relaxing after school, I tried to leave for the library, but my garage broke. The door simply would not lift. I had to call my dad on our house phone. I’m praying that my car won’t be stuck inside indefinitely because resorting to finding a ride would really, really suck. Currently, I am finishing up some homework from today. It is kind of nice to have both time to relax and time to be productive. Even though my other plans of going to the library and the gym were messed up, I’m still excited to be at home having fun. Today at lunch, my friends asked me what I was going to do without my phone. I thought it was kind of funny but I understand why, since I don’t normally do much outside of using my phone.
Day 2: Life as a pilgrim
Today was not that bad. Besides the broken garage (wtf) and the inability to log onto Canvas (sorry Mrs. Cromer), I am doing pretty well. School was fine, and I honestly kind of like not jumping on my phone right after class or being on it during lunch. Being without it is helping me realize the things I need, like messages, and my tuner app for orchestra. It also helps me manage time (sorta). After finally locking in yesterday, I watched ‘The Legend of Korra’ on my iPad and procrastinated on my English assignments. Today I am locked in and praying that I can get to bed by 11:30 (it’s 9:27 and I am already tired). Anyway, despite the millions of people who told me they couldn’t survive without their phones, I am doing fine. Doing dishes at work with no music kinda sucked, but I was still able to get them done on time. Having no phone is kind of lit. If this hasn’t convinced you to see how long you can go without it, then maybe me making my own butter will.
Day 3: Withdrawal Wednesday
No garage, no phone, and my dad is still bald. Even though I feel like a Mennonite (Amish person who uses power tools) I’m enjoying having free time. I know it sounds dumb, but my phone makes me forget I have free will. I constantly want to read, color, or do a cute hobby, but I am quite literally glued to my phone. It’s even gotten to the point of preventing me from going to bed because I just can’t get off my phone. Tonight, I am going to bed early after working on some coloring books and trying out my new acrylic markers. Besides my peaceful night, I also had a pretty fun day too, even having my friends come over a little after school. Drumroll please: I finally did a sporadic, unorganized workout. To be very honest, I have weights at home, but nothing really urged me to use them. Now being bored, I get random spurts of of ambition and do whatever movements I feel like doing. Now, it is 11 pm and I am so ready to pass out. Hopefully tomorrow my garage will be fixed, leading get a step closer to forgetting my phone.
Day 4: Halfway done, Halfway dead
Today was mostly the same with a surprise in the end. I couldn’t get into Canvas again, but by that time I had already accepted it. The school day came and went, but ended up being fine. My last period had a fun sub and he complimented how I always say how I’m feeling. (shoutout Mr. Robertson) When I got home, the garage was FINALLY fixed. It was amazing, I finally got to drive my car, my baby, MY LIFELINE. Ok, let me chill. It was like a breath of fresh air. After driving around, I spent time coloring a lobster and watching ‘The Legend of the Korra.’ I feel like I’m getting better with my routines, like waking up and going to sleep early. I want to work on going to bed by 10:30.
Day 5: Fabulous Friday
Today was a win-win-win. My two biggest issues were finally solved, I successfully got into Canvas and had another great day of exercising free will. I love driving! I had a pretty energetic day and somehow powered through all of school and Mariachi. It was pretty fun and I’m glad that I’ve been surviving pretty well. Honestly though, having everyone around me constantly on their phones only makes the challenge harder. I’m glad that there is only one more day to go. I miss having the choice of music in my car and the ability to easily text people. The audio quality from the music from my Chromebook really sucks, and as much as I love the b100 dating radio show, I miss my crazy daylists from Spotify.
Day 6: The finale, finally
Today was honestly not that bad. I slept well and followed my normal morning routine. Honestly, it did get a little boring. In the middle of the day, I had soccer practice which I was super, super nervous about. For some reason, my brain always tells my body to freak out whenever I have to do something for soccer. Turns out, I was worried for no reason and had a great time playing. Afterward, I relaxed with a shower and some food. I texted some friends and we hung out for a bit, playing with my weights, and driving around. We went to the supermarket Jalisco and Walmart. The night ended with some taste testing at Osaka, and I found out I like (some) sushi. I had fun on my last day without my phone, even though TikTok was about to shut down. After my adventures with sushi and friends, I did a coloring page while watching ‘The Legend of Korra.’
Day 7: The return
Honestly, it was not as crazy as my mind made it up to be. After the challenge, I feel better, but having my phone back feels like starting from square one again. To combat the 8-hour screen time, I’m going to try to set some limits on my phone. I liked having a detox. I got back into some hobbies, and I felt like I had a lot more control over my time. The hardest parts were annoying though. I couldn’t text or call anyone outside of my home, or even have aux in my car. On top of that, people constantly talked about how they could never try the challenge like me, or could not live a day without their phone. Although some parts were inconvenient, I enjoyed the majority of it and would try this against but in a more strict way.
Fun times, phone-free!
If you read this and thought, “I spend more time on my phone than doing things with my life” or “I should try this” I have some tips for you. Also, this challenge does not need to be as time-consuming as I made it to be – try it for a day, and see what happens.
- Plan out what you want to do! Having a plan for what homework, hobbies, or projects to work on while bored helps combat the urge to just scroll.
- Set goals! If you’re only taking a day off from your phone, outline some goals the night before. On the day of, remember what you want to accomplish and work towards it.
- Go the extra mile! Do things you don’t normally do, do some extra self-care, or double-check that English homework before turning it in.
- Document your experience! Figure out how being without your phone makes you feel, and implement all the good things you discovered into your day-to-day routine.
- HAVE FUN!! Objectively the most important step, but don’t let yourself get down just because you don’t have your phone. Enjoy being alive and appreciate the world around you.
I hope you enjoyed this article because I just went without my phone for (almost) a week. Like everyone’s parents say, sometimes it really is that damn phone. Check out other really interesting articles on our website, and get off your phone.
