Around January of this year, I was in a bad mood at a decent party and I really wanted someone to text. I didn’t want to find a better party or even connect with someone else. I just wanted out of where I was, at least through my phone. If I had had a smartphone, I wouldn’t have even needed to text someone. I could have checked my email or played angry birds. But if I had spent that night on the phone, I wouldn’t have been at that party. A smartphone is portal out of anywhere, but it lets you out of being in one place completely.
One of my favorite things about this leg of my teen tour summer is not having a phone at all. In Europe, the only person I know is my best friend, and we’re SMS'ing IRL all the time. Incidentially, this friend has a habit of “forgetting” her phone charger whenever she goes on vacation, which is a pain unless you’re on vacation with her. But I see her point: a phone-free trip really is a break from everything.
I’m sure this Luddite sentiment comes from the fact that I have weeks of travel ahead of me without a job or an apartment to worry about in the meantime. But still, it’s a true thing that staring at a small screen never makes me feel any happier.