Am I addicted to my phone?

Well, it's definitely an understatement to say this post is long overdue. In my meager defense, I've been trying my hand at a bit of freelance photography in my spare time (you can check out my photo blog if you're so inclined).

But I've had a lot of ideas floating around since we last spoke. Heck, I'm quickly approaching my one year anniversary at Franco PR Group, and have tons to share about my transition from college student to the real world--but more on that later. This post is about technology dependence.

It all started about a month ago when I had a large event at work. You know, the kind you plan for months ahead of time and lose a bit of sleep over the night before--that kind of event. The big day finally came. I was the main point of contact for several people including ticket holders, transportation, bloggers, media, etc. Not joking, five minutes before things were scheduled to get started I looked down at my phone (as I do compulsively several times per hour) and noticed I had no cell service. Was I in a bad reception area? I walked outside, no signal. Tried to make a call, no luck. Frantically reset the phone, still no cigar.

To make a long story short, my service provider (who shall not be named in an effort to avoid taking this post off on a tangent) accidentally deactivated my SIM card when my mother got a new cell phone. You see, we share a plan because she gets a nice discount as an employee of this service provider. The very minute she upgraded her phone, my SIM card was accidentally deactivated. No warning, no undo--just a completely useless phone and nothing I could do about it until the store opened at 9 a.m. the next morning.

But the point of all this is isn't the error of the store representative who inadvertently sent my blood pressure through the roof. It's that the feeling of chaos, confusion and overall discombobulation I experienced during that 12 hour phoneless period was unlike anything I'd ever felt. I was completely frustrated, angry and could not accept the fact that nothing could be done until "tomorrow." Tomorrow wasn't soon enough, I needed it now. But did I really? No, in reality it wasn't a matter of life and death.

Fortunately, as PR professionals we're always taught to have backup plans and our team was able to make do just fine with my co-worker's functioning phone. But as a Gen-Yer, I practically grew up with cell phones. I sleep with it next to my bed. I check it dozens of times a day. The longest period of time I'm without my phone is the occasional time I'm at the gym (lol) or in a situation where I'm not able to answer. Being without my phone seriously felt like losing an arm--or my whiskers...Let me explain. My dad has OCD (not seriously, but kind of) and one time when I was young he trimmed my cat's whiskers to make them even. Little did he know those things serve a pretty important purpose in helping the animal do things like sense their environment and fit through small spaces. Our cat spent a week walking sideways and ended up lost behind the fridge more times than we could count. That's how I felt.

How we cope when technology takes a turn for the worst says a lot about us and where we are as a society. Sometimes we're so used to technological advances we forget it's still possible for things to be out of our control. We don't have answers to everything. We're so used to having things at our disposal that when they're not we sometimes don't know how to cope.

So is there something wrong with me? Or society? Am I an addict? Is technology dependence wrong or an "addiction" if it's the social norm?

Either way I have a new perspective on the topic of technology dependence--as well as a new respect for those customer service reps who have to be on the receiving end of a lot of people's frustration. I know there are greater problems in this world and greater challenges to face. I'm also working on that whole accepting when things are out of my control thing...