Actually, I just made that title up. I thought it might be catchy like Man Bites Dog. Anyway, I did break my phone, and though it did not involve the internet, it did involve a lake in Maine.
Snorkeling is a hobby of mine, so if I’m headed for a body of water chances are I’ll have my mask and flippers with me. I enjoy the peace and quiet of just being underwater and the ever-present prospect of discovery and adventure.
Dad Mode
On this particular vacation day I had taken my snorkeling gear with me and kayaked out to an outcropping of rocks jutting out of a pristine lake in Vacationland. A sunken, lifeless tree and the marine life moving in and around it was super Nat Geo which made me want to share it with my wife and kids. After making this discovery, a switch inside me flipped and I went into full-on dad mode. You know, when you see something so equally interesting and educational that you abandon all common sense and dignity in an effort to bestow the experience and knowledge upon your immediate family members? Ya, that kind of dad mode.
I snorkeled back to my kayak and grabbed my iPhone to record the awesomeness. My phone was in a two-year-old case that used to be waterproof, but now had plenty of worn edges, gaps, and cracks. But, being the ever-resourceful dad that I am, I had brought it out onto the water in a ziplock sandwich bag. I mean, ziplock bags are waterproof, right?
Nat Geo Here I Come
Well, I brought my ziplocked phone with me underwater and tried filming the aquatic flora and fauna, but it didn’t work out so well. When I resurfaced there was a wee bit of water in the bag. After returning to the cabin with my phone I was flooded with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I was afraid the water had been my undoing, but on the other, the prospect of risking all to share the scene I had captured was tantalizing. I was all excited to show everyone, but before I did, I first had to watch it myself so I could prepare my velvety voice-over to narrate the scene. I pulled my phone out of the (now full of water) sandwich bag and operated my phone. The video was blurry and dim and nothing like National Geographic…right before it shorted out and died.
Not Coming Down For Breakfast
Over the next couple of days I tried to restore the phone with various Martha Stewart hacks and advice from my brother-in-law, but to no avail. I killed my phone. It wasn’t coming down for breakfast anymore.
I was now sans-iPhone for the rest of vacation, and I’ll admit, in the beginning it had such an unusual effect on me. Ask my wife and kids, and they’ll tell you I constantly bellow from the rooftops, “Get off your phones! Go outside! Read a book!” and then ignore their groans while I preach against the addicting devices. If I was such an anti-devicer, then why was I feeling this way? Surely I was not addicted? Or was I?
Dad Moves And Sabbaticals
After a couple of days, that anxious feeling of not knowing what was going on in the world began to wear off and I began to embrace it. It was good for me to disconnect from work emails, marketing emails, and over dramatic news headlines. It was good to get back to life before the internet or the iPhone existed. But it took a real dad-move of taking my phone into the lake in a sandwich bag for that to happen. As much as I hate to admit it, I guess the self-discipline just wasn’t there.
There are a ton of studies and research available on smart phone manufacturers, apps, and the social media giants to know that they spend more money than most of us will ever see in a lifetime on finding ways to keep you and I hooked — addicted. And there is just as much research on the benefits of taking sabbaticals from our devices. We need to put the dang things away. So why don’t we do it? Because, dopamine.
Bad Masters
Maybe it won’t take a water-logging incident to get you to take a break from your phone. Maybe you have the desire and the will power. But whether you do or you don’t, the fact remains we need to remember that our smart phones make great servants but terrible masters.
There’s An App For That
I’m an iPhone guy, so I don’t have much insight for you Android users. But Apple has built in Screen Time to their devices which can help you manage your usage and intentionally create downtime so you can unplug, unwind, and log off. There are other apps out there to do that as well. For instance, you could try the somewhat lesser known Throw Your Phone In A Lake app.
However you choose to do it, intentionally make it a point to put the phone down, go outside, or read a book.
- Are you addicted to your phone?
- No?
- Can you can go one day without it and not feel the effects.?
- Are you ready to stop being the slave and start being the master?
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