One Week without iPhone

Last weekend, my iPhone broke down with no warning. The good news is that it was still under warranty, so I contacted Apple on Sunday and ended up sending it for repair as instructed.

Now I had to wait up to one week before I had an iPhone again. As a result, I was cut off from the bustling world of mobile Internet, losing touch with the folk on WeChat, QQ and everything. I was panicked. It was not until then that I came to the realization that never a single day had passed without a mobile phone at hands since I got my first Motorola over a decade ago.

The first day with no iPhone went basically fine except that I was late for work - it is usually the iPhone that rings me up in the morning. During lunch break, I tried in vain to strike up a conversation with my workmates as there was no message to check on the phone. The problem was that everyone else was checking through messages and giggling at the phone, totally ignoring me. At a loss as to what to do, I looked around and noticed that a cat was hiding under the car parked on the other side of the street. I walked over and tried to lure it with what's left of our lunch. The cat was startled as I approached, fleeing in no time. However, it looked back again when it was assured there was a safe distance between us. I dropped the food on the sidewalk and went back to work.

I woke up early the next day, feeling refreshed. At the entrance to the metro, I heard F.F.Chopin broadcast on the radio despite the noises at the metro station. Apparently it was broadcasting all day and everyday, but I did not seem to really notice it until now. Later in the day, I dropped an email to a former colleague of mine, inviting him out on a dinner at the restaurant we both know. By the time I left office, there was still no reply from him. I decided to go to the restaurant anyway, just in case. When I reached the restaurant, he was already there - it turned out he replied to me via WeChat. In fact we had a lot to catch up - a lot of stuff were going on around town over the past two days, according to WeChat, of which I was completely unaware of.

Before bed, I turned on the radio and the room was filled with the whisper of music. Good night, my friend, said the DJ.

The whole new world with no iPhone was full of surprises. During the client meeting on Wednesday afternoon, while others were busy connecting with WeChat, I shook hands with every client and looked straight into their eyes, talking and laughing, A tall and fat guy even offered me a hug - it is not something that happened to me on every client meeting.

By Thursday I found myself totally accustomed to the way life is without an iPhone. I watched people giggling during lunch while they typed on the phone, fed the cat on my lap ( we were friends now), listened to the classic music at the metro station on my way home. I got an email from one of the clients inviting me to a party where there were plenty of people that he wanted to introduce me to and may very well become a client too. I was ecstatic, yet in the meantime, I found it odd that I was the only one in my office that got invited. Whatever, I had to go to the party.

It was a great party and I found it was pretty late when it was over. I tried to hail a cab but none stopped. Now I missed my iPhone. With Didi it was so much easier to get one.

Friday is always busy. I built an calendar for client visits for the next week, filling out the details of each potential client that I met at the party on Thursday. A sudden burst of laughter gave me a fright, and I found everyone else around me was laughing out loud - at their phones. Are they laughing at me? I felt embarrassed for a brief moment but soon realized they were laughing at a hilarious joke about the clients on our WeChat group for work. It seemed like there is a transparent yet tangible wall installed between me and the rest of the world. I was not sure how to describe it - sometimes it was like I was deserted by the world, at other times, it felt like I was watching the whole world from above.

Early Saturday morning, I went out for jogging. It's been a week now without iPhone, I wandered how many phone calls or messages I had missed. It may have alarmed a few people, but apparently no one got so alarmed as to come to find me in person. In the meantime, I was a totally different person now, refreshed and relaxed. Instead of checking the phone every 3 minutes, I had got plenty of time thinking about more important issues - work, life, people, and everything related to me. I started to re-discover the beauty around me - the cat, the smiling faces, the music, and the hug. But I missed my iPhone, and for the first time in a long time, probably over a decade, I felt lonely.

On Sunday evening, I found myself so thrilled turning on the iPhone I almost cried. Hello world, I'm back. I checked through WeChat messages and Mobile Secretary for missed phone calls with trembling hands, only to find that there was no sign of anyone ever contacting me except for 1 message from Tuesday.

I sent my iPhone for repair again on Monday. For the replacement of screen.