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Writer's pictureDirk Erik Plas

Dependent on my phone

When I woke up this morning to the chirping iPhone birds, I looked at my phone, and it was 5:30 a.m. Why so early? Then, I remembered what happened last night.


A crime was committed...

We were having a drink outside a pub in Walthamstow. I met a colleague, and we were catching the last bit of sun that day. My brand new mobile phone was on the table because we were discussing a document on my phone.


A few minutes later, this mobile telephone was stolen right before our noses by a scammer who asked for change and covered my phone with a piece of paper with an explanation of how he had to care for his wife and children written on it. When we emphatically told him we had no change, he persisted a while before giving up, skilfully picking up my phone with the piece of paper and walking off with a disappointed face.


Feeling bad for disappointing him, it took me a minute or two to realize that my phone was gone. That was time enough for the person to disappear, never to be found again, even though we searched up and down the streets.


From that moment on, the realization of my dependency on my mobile phone started.


I needed to find a police station to report my stolen phone. How? I had no Google Maps. I went into the pub, logged my Mac on to the free Wifi, and searched for a nearby police station after locking my stolen phone through 'Find My Phone'.


In the meantime, the bartender heard us speak about the case and invited me to look at the CCTV. Flabbergasted and still in shock, I saw myself and my colleague on the video empathically arguing with the scammer. At the same time, he skillfully, like a magician, took back the paper and my phone. Men, did I feel stupid?


Returning to my Mac (guarded by my colleague), I took a screenshot of how to walk to the Walthamstow police station and left the pub. While walking, I looked at the screenshot several times while opening my Mac in the middle of the street. I arrived at the police station, only to discover that the building was all boarded up. So, I had to find another station. How? No Google Maps... After a while, I looked around for people to ask and discovered I had to go to a faraway Tottenham Hale police station.


That meant taking the bus. Finding out which bus, without the Citymapper app, was quite a challenge, so a new search for people started. People who were familiar with both Walthamstow and Tottenham Hale and with public transport.


Finally, I arrived at the police station, where I had to wait for ages before someone showed up to help me. I could feel the restlessness of not being able to message anyone to relieve the frustration or look at social media to distract me from that same feeling.


After being helped, I found my way to the train station to take the train back to Stratford. It's funny that I had to open my Mac to check the time, as my phone is usually my watch.


Arriving home, I sat on the sofa. There was no internet, music (Spotify), or distraction (Netflix) as I used my unlimited data and had no phone, so it was time for reflection. I slowly realized the impact of not having my phone and felt some panic creeping up to the surface. What about my client tomorrow morning? I am supposed to meet them at 10:30 am and have no means to warn them that might not happen. So, I decided to drive over to my partner early in the morning to use her Wifi for the session.


After getting my old, slow phone out of the dust and rebooting it, I found that its time indicated two hours earlier and would not update without a connection, so when I went to sleep, I had to set the alarm two hours earlier. And there we were this morning, waking up, thinking it was 5:30 a.m.


5:30 a.m.

When the morning fog cleared up, and I remembered again that it was two hours later, I got up, showered, made breakfast, and sat in my car, ready to drive off. Then it hit me: I had no navigation. I just moved to my new place and had no idea how to navigate to my partner's home from the top of my head, so I needed to take the train.


I got out, ran to the station, logged my Mac on to the free Wi-Fi to message my client that I might be a few minutes late, messaged my partner that I was on my way, and took the Jubilee in the hope that I would still arrive on time. There was no way to check that since I had no connection.


Sitting on the tube, I looked around me, and literally, everybody was sitting with their heads down, looking at their phones.


The fact that I cannot make eye contact with the heads-down people and all that happened in the past 12 hours made me fully aware of how much our smartphones are merged with our lives and our businesses and that it almost feels like a limb being amputated when it is stolen from me.


So many implications...

Sitting on the tube, I thought of all the other implications:


  • I lost all my pictures from the last two months because my phone wasn't backed up due to an iCloud issue.

  • Two-way verification is impossible, so I am locked out of several accounts.

  • I lost a massive amount of money when things were already a bit tight.

  • I don't know any telephone number off the top of my head.

  • It became my only way of indirect communication. When did I last write a letter?

  • It is my way of reading what is going on in the world.

  • It is the only way for people to reach me from afar.

  • It is how I navigate the streets and, in a way, how I navigate my life.


It fits in one hand and has completely changed how I experience the world throughout my life. This is a huge realization for me.


I am part of the heads-down generation, if I want it or not...






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