It’s peak time and I’m stood inside an overground train watching all the heads around me barely bob to the rhythm of wheels on a track. Meanwhile I skate over the thought of how interesting it would be to put together a mosaic of all the faces that belong to those heads from the point of view of the screens that are viewing them. This thought I’m having is a product of the phenomenon that I have no book, no tablet, no i-this or that to help me utilise this no-man’s-land segment of time. I can only direct my senses to these heads as well as to the sensations I’m feeling as I’m trying to stay in balance while ‘surfing’ the train without holding onto any handlebars. My tiny Nokia, which I call my phone for now, has real buttons that you need to lay some elbow grease on to get going and so it is lodged unemployed in one of my pockets. My thoughts then drift onto the somewhat happy fact that I’m not a security risk. I don’t have anything worth stealing on my body, apart from my hair I suppose. And that’s liberating.
In recent years, my birthday has been an occasion for the universe to go forth and really upset me. Last year, I was plunged into the depths of existential despair only to find a life raft in the nick of time. An event that occurred near my birthday just past interrupted my flow and contentment with the seeds of transformation that maybe less newsworthy but no less dramatic. What happened was that I finally managed to do what so many others have done before me and write-off my brand new smartphone by gloriously smashing its screen on concrete after a post-birthday gluttony redemption jog around the block. Without insurance. So Happy Birthday to me! Because M and I don’t own a car, this incident was my version of crashing my car moments after driving it out of the showroom.
We all know how much our lives depend on these crazy gadgets. But, as I found out, the addiction doesn’t become apparent until the day you find yourself without one.
Hence why I now have as a standby this ‘dumb’ Nokia, which, up until the ‘incident’, was used primarily as an intercom system to allow delivery people into my building.
The nice thing is that with a phone that does the bare minimum of what a phone should be able to do, I’ve freed up my time to do what I need to do properly. I can now look both ways before crossing the street rather than scanning my screen from left to right while crossing the street. I can complete my university assignments without being distracted by the latest Instagram updates from Cara or endless chats on Messenger. I don’t find myself checking my phone 2 minutes after I wake up in the morning and 2 minutes before I fall asleep, making either experience that much more calming. And so my stress levels have noticeably given way by the relative new quiet. It also feels really good not to be a security risk when I’m in public. It even feels good to flash my Nokia in a pretentious place like Shoreditch. The hip young day residents there are probably thinking I’m being ironic.
Unfortunately I do have to end this nice little story with a plot twist, which is that I have opted to buy a replacement smartphone after all. My reasoning is based on real honesty. As much as I love the liberation of going ‘lo-fi’, my heart of hearts tells me that I don’t want to be left behind in a world that will continually be shaped for people who own smart whatevers (phones, watches, glasses). I miss the apps that make life easier - Google Maps, Map My Run and err… Best London Coffee, Spotify…. and I miss having a high res camera on my phone to capture moments (I’m not even on Instagram).
Having said that, I do want to make something of what happened as I believe it probably happened for a reason that goes beyond my congenital clumsiness. The lesson I take away from it is that I need to live more simply. The word of the day is DECLUTTER. Less.is.more. (And it's spring, how perfect!) As hackneyed as the phrase is, it really does seem to hold the key to true happiness. I like not being bogged down by excess. I like my home to be sparsely furnished with only the things my husband and I actually care about (books, mostly). I’ve managed to trim my wardrobe to such a minimum that my husband and I can share it and it’s not a walk-in. That’s because I practically wear the same clothes day in day out, which puts me in good company. (I do however allow myself a new pair of trainers once yearly and new underwear, as old undies are gross). M and I have also stopped buying more food than the two of us can eat, and so we are wasting less food. Our household water consumption, as confirmed by a recent bill, is below average. As this implies, living more simply has a positive ecological impact (mini-fist pump!). There even appears to be a ‘movement’ of sorts of people like myself who are voluntarily willing to live more simply.
While making headway towards minimalism in the physical realm, I have neglected to translate this in the digital one. So now’s the time for action! To this end, I have sworn that when my replacement phone arrives in my clumsy little hands, I will (1) buy a proper shock-absorbing cover, and (2) minimise the use of my new phone by not installing Twitter, Facebook or Gmail. I’ll make an exception for WhatsApp as it’s been a fantastic tool for helping me stay in touch with my Mum and friends overseas. Other than that, I’ll probably continue spending my commutes gawking at heads around me and find my quality of life spike as a consequence.
