Something super unfortunate happened to me this week. Let me paint the picture for you: It’s going on hour 6 of dance team practice on Tuesday, November 8th and my entire team and I are finally wrapping up all of the hard work we had put in during practice. It then came time to film videos of some choreography, and I volunteered my phone to be the one to film for everyone. I walked right over to the mirror and pressed the record button on my phone, and then placed it on top of the wood panel on the mirror. Or at least I thought there was a wood panel. As soon as I let my phone go…it dropped.
Down behind the dance room mirrors, still recording.
I screamed, my teammates screamed, and my coach screamed. My heart dropped to my stomach. I immediately froze and didn’t breath for what seemed like 5 minutes. My teammates rushed to my side to try and reassure me that we could get it back as my coach climbed on top of the bar to look down the hole. When she picked her face back up it had the most somber expression I have ever seen. My teammates sprung into action and tried to find everything they could to get the phone out: a ruler, string, tape, really anything they could find. I tried to stay calm and process how my parents would react to the news of my phone being dropped behind the mirror, probably gone forever.
Eventually, despite my teammates’ efforts to try and retrieve the phone, there was nothing else we could do. I ultimately came to terms with the fact that my phone was now in the possession of some ghost or bug. We then called my mom who showed up to the school with a large stick and a roll of Flex Tape. She and my coach poked and prodded to try and lift my phone out from the abyss, but it was no use. Nothing was working, and I was devastated. I had no idea what to do with my life.
When I got home I’m pretty sure we emailed every person in the school to try and get into contact with someone who could help us. My mom was also on the phone with Apple for hours trying to figure out what our insurance covered while simultaneously setting up an old iPhone 6s. At this moment I was sitting in my room with my own thoughts, very confused on how I was going to spend my time. I do not consider myself addicted to my phone, but this time without it left me thinking about how much I really rely on it. I use it to set reminders, as an alarm clock, to check my grades, contact my friends and family, and so much more. Being left without these ways of
communication honestly scared me. I thought that I was missing important information and could not sleep that night due to the fear of not waking up on time. Even though this caused me an unwanted amount of anxiety, it was also kind of nice. I got all of my homework done without procrastinating, got to clean my room, and do some other things I don’t normally do. This unintentional phone cleanse was almost like a sign from God telling me that I needed to focus on some more important things in my life other than just a screen.
The next day I was still phone-less, and had to go to school without one too. The school day did not really feel all that different, considering I’m always too busy to be on my phone anyway, but it was super weird not being able to contact my mom or my friends throughout the day. Because of this, I had to resort to emailing everyone if I needed something. Nevertheless, I persisted through the day without a phone. When I got home that night I found that my mom had gotten the old iPhone 6s working, but it ended up only being able to send a few texts due to storage. But it was still able to wake me up in the morning!
When I woke up this morning (today is November 10, 2022) I was beginning to get agitated with the fact that I had no way to communicate. But something about it made me feel guilty. Why was I so mad I didn’t have my phone? It then
came to my attention that I really have taken the privilege of having a phone for granted. I spend too much time deep digging into the screen in front of me that I constantly miss the beauty that is happening around me at the same time. The good news is that an angel of a custodian was able to go through the process of removing the dance room mirrors to get my phone back. It was delivered to me during 5th period today and I was full of joy.
There are two main things I have learned from this experience, and I hope you have learned something too. One: it may seem like your life is all in your phone, but I promise it’s not. Look around and see what’s around you! Life’s more interesting when you see it for yourself. And two: Never, EVER, place your phone on top of the dance room mirror. Unless you want a phone cleanse, don’t do it.
This is now the 2nd time we’ve been assigned to each other, and I’d like to apologize in advance that you have to read my blog this week, because once again it is about sports, it’s long, and pretty confusing for a non-hardcore basketball fan. I can definitely relate to your blog, as I broke my phone freshman year, and had to resort to my old phone which was basically a flip phone with a touch screen. It definitely wasn’t fun, but I was used to it as I didn’t have a phone besides the replacement phone, and so I was to not going on my phone, unlike a lot of kids in my grade. However, now that I’ve had a phone for a few years, losing my phone would definitely have more of an impact. I also use my phone for my alarm, to stay in touch with people, check my email, and to watch netflix or youtube on it. Even though enjoy having my phone, I have some of the same problems in that it causes procrastination, something I experienced before writing this. I’m glad you were able to get your phone back, because it makes me feel less guilty about laughing at the video, (I’ve dropped things in much more embarissing ways so don’t worry about it) which I thought was a nice inclusion into the blog.
Oops! You should have told me I accidentally assigned you to the same person!
Hey Tess! I thought this was a great blog! I actually found it because I was commenting on Sam’s blog and noticed that you said you also wrote about your phone. I was very excited to see what your story was, until…I started reading. Overall, before I talk about the specifics of what you said, I like how you mention it was a good thing in a sense because of your perspective without a phone. I know for a fact that I am addicted to my phone, so having to go multiple days without one scares me – even though it would probably be good for me. Now, into the story itself. It is kind of crazy that your phone fell into a spot where truly nobody could get it out except for the custodian by removing the entire mirror. I thought the video was funny because it literally goes straight black. I can’t imagine what you were thinking, especially because you knew exactly where it was, you just could not get to it. I kind of wonder what your time without your phone was like. How did you communicate with your friends, teachers, etc. (I know that question is very like a 21st-century problem….). Overall, great story and blog, and I am glad you were able to get it back!
I always wondered why my parents didn’t want me to have a phone until 7th grade. And recently it has begun to come to me why. I think that being so connected with everyone all the time is something that is extremely helpful but also somewhat of a curse. There have been times before where I have broken my phone and have had to be phoneless for a couple of days and experience a similar feeling to what you felt. I really enjoyed how you were able to wrap up the blog with somewhat of a moral allowing us to look at ourselves and see if we have an issue. I also can relate to the fear when your phone fell because this object that is always so closely connected to you is now inaccessible. This isn’t something that happens a lot but when it does it’s scary. I agree that sometimes it’s nice to have a phone cleanse and definitely would be beneficial to many people. I don’t know many people though that would be willing to put their phone down at home and leave it there for a day.