Reasons I Hate my phone and why it’s killing dreams

As always I’ll start with the song James Barker Band – I Hate My Phone

I hate my phone
It’s always right beside me
Won’t leave me alone
It sometimes takes me places
I don’t want to go
It makes my girlfriend angry
And pisses off my bros
Whoa
I hate my phone

I hate my phone.

Well, not just my phone, but all phones that fit in one’s pocket.

and Importantly those over-sized XXL phones.

“Technology gets lighter and smaller, but the weight of obligation attached to it grows.”

I realize I sound like my father when I talk about that distant time known as “the good old days”. But I’m going to anyway, because it really was better in so many ways.

I hate my phone,

Because back in my days, we didn’t have mobile phones. Internet came on the scene and was chiefly used for some e-mail related stuff and looking at images of naked ladies. Even the naked lady photos seemed like a gradual striptease compared to now, because they loaded so slowly.

When I started traveling, there wasn’t 4G. There weren’t even internet cafes.

No, that thing in your pocket is ringing just for you. And don’t even think of ignoring it. You will be bombarded by “Where are you? What’s going on? Why don’t you answer?” on 83 other apps, from snapchat to Whatsapp.

Technology brought some convenience, but it also brought a creeping sense of entitlement that presumes you should be available at any moment and any hour of the day.

If, like me, you leave your phone face down on a desk in another room and tend to forget about it unless you want to use it for something, you will be regarded as an eccentric or an annoyance. Probably both.

But here’s the thing. I hate myself for these 69 reasons

I’m forced to compromise by checking messages first thing in the morning and last thing at night, but this is my limit.

If everything falls apart because I’m out for a few hours, then I guess it falls apart. But nothing ever did. Most of those urgent emails and questions weren’t very urgent after all, and if they were, they could be solved by someone else.

This notion that we have to be connected 24/7 means that we live our lives according to other people’s demands, whims and sudden inspirations, and not our own. You don’t have to constantly monitor Whatsapp to see if your latest message has been read or not, easing anxiety that it’s not been answered).

Other fixes include not having your phone in the bedroom overnight, deleting your internet browser and – one I like particularly – sending audio notes (or, heaven forfend, making a call) rather than texting. Recording a note is easier, less stressful and is less prone to misinterpretation than a text message. Now, if only I could have all those hours back spent texting to and fro when a simple missive has been misunderstood…

But the most significant remedy of all is to spend time with your phone completely off. Be brave. Be alone. Live in the present. Read a book. Spend time with your thoughts. That’s my aspiration for 2021