When thinking about an addiction, your mind immediately races to drugs or alcohol. Those however, are not the only types. It has become apparent that with all the new gadgets and advances, technology is an obsession.

For me, there is never a time that I’m without my phone by my side. From Twitter and Instagram to Snapchat, and even messaging, I feel lost without that glass rectangle next to me. I realized that my phone use went way deeper than just a way to contact people when it was important.

I knew that I needed to change my ways, so I took the most extreme approach and challenged myself to go an entire week without technology. This not only meant I had to put my phone away, but I could not watch TV, or even go on my computer unless I had to for school.

Day 1 Friday March 7

I warned my closest friends of the process that I was about to take on, but I decided that in order to get the true experience, I wouldn’t tell people until I was back in school on Monday what I was doing. My immediate feelings were slightly nervous, but I had already made plans with my friends and knew that my night would be okay. Although I found myself grabbing for my phone often, it was not as bad as I suspected.

Day 2 Saturday March 8

When I woke up nothing felt normal. I knew I couldn’t check my phone to find something to do for the day, and I was worried that I would be faced with boredom for the entire weekend. As I thought about this, I realized how sad it was that I relied so heavily on a piece of equipment. Lucky for me, people showed up at my house, knowing the situation. But, as I spent time with a group of people I realized how pathetic the amount we use our phones to interact is. Half of the conversations involved someone showing something on their phone and creating side topics off of this. I wondered what it was like before cell phones and how much more successful that generation must have been in being social. I found myself feeling left out because I did not have an iPhone and it was weird not to be able to pick something up to scroll through Twitter, Instagram, or answer a text.

Day 3 Sunday March 9

It was weird how easy it was for me to complete my homework. Without the distraction of my phone, I was able to finish everything quickly and then get things done that I had procrastinated for weeks or even months. I proved to myself that even though I don’t realize it, when I’m doing my homework it’s as if I am magnetized to the touch screen and rather than do fifteen minutes of homework and then check my phone, I was spending fifteen minutes on my phone, writing down a few words on my paper, and checking my phone again. What could have become so interesting in the few minutes that I had looked away? I found myself questioning this.

Day 4 Monday March 10

On the first day back to school, I had people asking me why I didn’t answer their text, Snapchat, or even if I had seen the latest picture or tweet on social media. When being asked, I would tell them that I was going “technology free” for a week, and they looked at me as though I had ten heads. Most of the reactions I got were “why would you ever do that?” or “How are you surviving.” I was embarrassed by the fact that my honest response was “I don’t know I feel so lost without it.”

Day 5 Tuesday March 11

Anxiety had taken over, and I did not know what to do. I knew that I needed to check my phone to see when I needed to babysit for the week, but that wasn’t a possibility. So, I had my dad check my phone for me and contact the families I babysit to tell them what was going on. It is crazy to think that without a phone I was unavailable. How did people have jobs and complete school when all we do is email, text, and call to complete assignments, check emails, and make plans? I was ashamed that our world had come to have such reliance.

For the rest of the week I found myself feeling anxious about what I had on my phone, and worrying that the people who didn’t know about the challenge would be mad at me for ignoring them. When I took my phone with me to drive for emergencies, there were countless times that I wanted to look at it and just peak to see what was there. When the week was over, I did not miss my computer or watching TV, because those are not things I often do, but I was so thankful to have my phone back. The seven days, 83 text messages, 54 Snapchats, and countless missed Instagrams and twitters, made me realize how pathetic I was. I was embarrassed that I missed an inanimate object so much, and decided that from that point on I would make a point to keep my cellphone use to a minimum. Technology has not always been everyone’s priority and this challenge made me realize it does NOT need to be mine.