I was a victim of slow battery. But now, on the other side, I see things differently.

Where's your phone right now? Bet I just made your heart skip a beat. It's probably in your hand as you read this or sitting comfortably nearby within an arm's reach. This is how life is in 2018. We're constantly connected. I remember when my mother carried a beeper and only used her phone in emergency situations.

Now it seems like the emergency is when we don't have our phone on us.

For the past few months I had been dealing with an unreliable phone. It wasn't bad at first, but in the last two weeks, I found that I couldn't even open my favorite apps or scroll through email without my phone crashing. Yes, I was a victim of Apple slowing down iPhones with older batteries (better known at "Applegate") to prevent serious issues in the future. I've since gotten a new battery, but looking back I've realized that I learned a few things during that experience.

FOMO is real...

Ever feel like your phone is buzzing in your pocket even though you know it's dead? Yeah, that was my life for the last 6-8 weeks. My phone would shut itself down if I opened certain apps. I couldn't check social media, answer emails or even grab an Uber without the black screen of death popping up. If anything major has happened in your life in 2018, chances are I've missed it... completely. I had to log into an actual computer to do daily tasks. Ew.

But not impossible.

Although I missed being able to scroll mindlessly through social media for more than 2.5 seconds, I also found that I didn't miss it. I'll admit that it was kind of nice to have an excuse at the ready should I miss a group text. That makes me sound like a terrible person, but have you ever sat back and thought about how much pressure we can put on ourselves to respond to everything immediately? Maybe that's just me.

You know where the juice is

I became that person who carried around their phone charger. It actually made me very popular with others who needed a good battery boost at brunch or while out for cocktails. You'd be surprised how many places have outlets near seating areas. The downside is that you are always tethered to those designated areas. But you can spot an outlet from across the room in less than 3 seconds after walking in. You're like a battery bloodhound.

It's unnerving

Being socially connected is only part of how I use my phone and you may be the same. Aside from posting on social media, I use my phone as my grocery store list, my flashlight, my road map, and in some cases, my ride home. It's not the best feeling when you're out and know that you can't get home without an Uber/Lyft. If your phone crashes when using these apps, you suddenly feel stranded. Not fun.

Friends get super annoying

I think I now understand what it feels like to be my grandmother sitting at a family function with all of us cousins. Each one staring at their phones and really only communicating with an occasional nod of the head or "umph" sound. When you can't use your phone to document every second and you're depending on actual human interaction to be your social saving grace, it becomes really obnoxious when they're eyes-down on the phone. I remember yelling at a friend on St. Patrick's Day because she continued to complain that she couldn't post to social media without proper service and wanted to leave. I would have told her to go, but I needed her Uber resources (see number four).

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