timelessness
I don’t own a cellphone.
I know. How do I live, right? *eyeroll*
Honestly, it’s not something I even notice anymore because it’s been so long. My last cellphone was back in 2006 and with that phone I had two others – one in Colin’s name and a ‘nanny’ phone for my mom who babysat my kids full-time when I went back to work.
I stopped being able to pay the monthly $300 bill when I decided to return back to the home full-time don’t exactly remember what happened but eventually I had no phone #1, #2 or #3 anymore and while I missed it at first, the longing was short lived.
It was around the time when people (not all, but many) stopped having real conversations because their noses were buried in their ’self-owns’ and it was almost enlightening in a way to not have a mobile device and to be able to witness the way technology started to consume so many.
A month or so ago, Colin gifted me with two executive suite tickets to the Jason Mraz concert at GM Place in Vancouver. While I had issues with the privileged mentalities of the regulars on the suite level, I had a pretty amazing view of everything (and a waitress, wine list, leather couch and a balcony seat cozier than my bed … I could soooo get used to that for the Vancouver Canucks season … damn privileged ones).
One of the moments that stuck out the most was when he sang ‘Beautiful Mess’ and 10,000 people had their Blackberries and iPhones waving above their heads the way lighters used to be.
It was an ocean of blue screens and I was like, “Okay, that’s up there on my ‘What’s This All About? list,” but okay. Smoking is pretty out of style around these parts but smoking dope isn’t – especially at a Mraz concert in Vancouver: Home of the best weed in the nation – so most people should technically should carry a lighter, but okay. Blue screens are the new flame. Noted.
What it did do was put it into major perspective how simple I am.
Really … I have no use for a cellphone. When I’m out and about with my girls, I don’t want to be contacted … that’s my time in the fresh air with my kids at the park, lake or beach … my time to grocery shop … my time to peruse a bookstore … my time to do everything and anything outside the home with 100% concentration on my tasks at hand.
Take the other day for example.
The girls and I went for a stroll to the nearby lake and up to the playground. It started getting dark (the time change is still messin’ with my head) and I was tempted to ask the time from somebody, but I decided that I’d just embrace the moment and use my instincts. I mean, Colin doesn’t get home till it’s pitch black so as long as we left while it was still light-ish, we’d be okay and he’d still get a warm dinner upon arrival.
And it was kind of cool just going with the flow like a kid. Remember when you were a kid and just played until your mom called you inside? Remember having no concept of time and just being?
That’s what it was like. My girls and I just being and naturally strolling home when we were tired of roaming.
Freedom.
And while I fully understand that many people enjoy being constantly connected, I can’t fathom being always available.
Those moments of timelessness are indescribable.
Filed under: nablopomo, randomly, self | 16 Comments
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When I got my first cell phone, I said to my mom “The upside of having a cell is being available at any place, any time. The DOWNSIDE of having a cell phone is being available at any place, any time.” I still feel the same way. There have been times I was very glad I had one, and times I wanted to flush it down the toilet!
I would be lost without my phone.
I never make calls. Takes me half an hour to compose an SMS. I have no idea how to use any of the features…
But it allows me to leave the house when Boo is at school or not with me. Because I NEED to be contactable at all times.
My phone is my sanity saver.
I would love to go back to the days without cell phones! Of course, then I wouldn’t be able to get in touch with hubby when he’s at the grocery store to tell him to “get more (fill in the blank)”…..:)
People who know me… know never to call me on my cell phone because I hate using it. I don’t even know how to text. But, I would feel naked w/o it, I mean how would the school contact me if I was out and about and there was an emergency at school. I would cry. And what if something happened, in the middle of the cold winter, and I was stranded w/the toddler somewhere. I would cry. Maybe I am just a crazy helicopter mom. I am so glad I have my stoooopid cell phone. It gives me a peace of mind.
I got my first ever cell phone last year … and I am still pretty apathetic towards them.
Some people may wonder what did they do before the advant of this device connected age … I don’t because I still do what I have been doing and you know what … I keep up with folks just fine!
i have a cell phone but i’m not constantly connected. most of the time i have it on silent and my kids complain that i never answer the calls or text.
but i do find it terribly convenient at times. when you have to get a hold of someone or them with you while you’re not at home, sitting by a land line. wait until your girls are older. you’ll most likely want to have that connection. but until then, enjoy the simplicity. i envy you.
I don’t have a cell phone, nor do I even own a watch. It works for me.
i love my phone.
and even more so now that i have an iphone and can be online at any time.
it’s totally changed my life and i’m already addicted to being able to know everything, all the time via the internet.
you would have to pry that thing out of my cold dead hands, lol.
I would not cope without my phone… mostly because of Twitter
LOL!
But seriously, in this country, you have to have a phone if the car breaks down etc for safety sake
While my cell phone and my laptop are two possessions I’m not willing to part with (yet) there are other things I forgo and don’t understand the hype about. Such as premium television channels, pimped out automobiles, televisions galore, and multiple screens for one’s computer.
I still reserve the right to allow my cell phone calls to go to voicemail, and we’ve completely done away with our home phone. We just have the cells, and never have to run home to check the messages.
…and a television will NEVER enter our bedroom. EVER.
Beautiful post. Sometimes I long for the days of no cell phones (and no $200/monthly bill for our family’s phones!). Being connected constantly can be exhausting.
My dear, with or without a cellphone, you’re still one classy lady. Independent, too.
I think if my kids were still very young, I wouldn’t have a cell phone either. But with teens and one at college, knowing I can be reached anywhere in an emergency is a little bit comforting.
But, if I forget my cell at home, I don’t turn around to go back for it like I used to. It’s also a little freeing to be incommunicado occasionally.
I suck.
You rock.
The end.
I’m hanging my head in pure shame.
(Where “hanging my head” means: head down sending a text, of course.)
I am one of the privileged ones in the box (here in Victoria0 and I’ll tell you… once your a luxury box goer, its hard to watch hockey or a concert int he stands with the plebes. sad, but you know its true! ha! there is something to be said for you’re own washroom and servers!