Life Without a Cell Phone – By Veena Trehan

Life Without a Cell Phone

By Veena Trehan – National Change  – Published: Tuesday 15 October 2013

In May, I gave up my cell phone.

My withdrawal was gradual and unplanned.  First, a drop onto the only tiled 6-square feet in my home destroyed my iPhone’s clean look. Then mysterious crashes, like a Steve Jobs tech debut gone wrong, made it annoyingly unreliable.  Finally, it needed to be shut down and restarted to change functions, like from “email” to “phone” or “text”.

Its disappearance led me to drop it altogether.

As with many big moves – and a breakup with your fave gadget qualifies in 2013 – it had been a long time coming.          

Ever since seeing Mike Daisey’s “The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” I had been wracked by guilt that my adorable cell was built with child labor, grueling hours, union busting, video surveillance and suicide nets (the spirits and bodies of Chinese workers were definitely harmed in its making). Yet I grasped it tighter, mumbling platitudes, “one person can’t change …”, “shining the light will help …”. However New York Times articles that echoed many of Daisey’s revelations, plus Apple’s evasion of billions in taxes, brought fresh pangs of guilt.

My iPhone’s absence has transformed my life for the better, if challenging family and friends who expect instant access.

I live more in the moment.

Very soon after I lost my iBuddy, I walked through Georgetown. Instead of jamming to music up Wisconsin Avenue, I looked carefully around a local market. Sarah Bean provided my best conversation that month. The poet and artist – who had coincidentally been Mike Daisey’s drama student in high school – spoke of her wonderful art and the brilliant monologist’s trials post-“Agony”.  Her collage “We Are All Just Walking Eachother Home” now adorns my bedroom. [Read more]