This archive report was first published on 30 July 2019.
On a typical day, my phone is an extension of me, making plans and executing them. But when an editor assigned me a 72-hour phone detox, I was forced to confront my addiction.
At first, I felt purposeful, but as the hours ticked by, I began to feel frustrated and upset. I had to cancel a meeting, and my usual productivity was hindered by my inability to check my phone.
As the day went on, I started to feel cheated, like I had been robbed of something important. What if the world had moved on without me? What if I had missed out on an important call or text?
These 'what if' questions kept me up at night, and I struggled to sleep without my alarm. The next day, I was at work by 6:30 am, but I couldn't take the silence anymore and bought a 'kabambe' phone to receive calls.
My editor refused to let me check my messages, and I was forced to continue the experiment. I felt like my job was stalled, and I was under pressure to respond to messages and check people's statuses.
But amidst the chaos, I found a welcome quietness inside me and around me. It was as if some kind of pressure had been released from inside me.
However, this quietness was short-lived, and I was soon enveloped by a cloud of fear when I was finally allowed to switch on my phone. I was bombarded with messages, and I felt like I had missed out on something major.
As I scrolled through my messages, I realized that after 24 hours, those messages are discarded. I will never know who tried to call me or what transpired on those two days.
