The battery on my phone stopped working a while back. The first troubling sign came the day we drove up to the Red River — to get out of the house. The crossing was eerily beautiful — like something from an alien planet. Naturally, I tried to use my phone to snap a picture. And even though I had greater than 80% battery life, my phone decided — RIGHT THEN AND THERE — to reboot.
This would become my phone’s new normal. Rebooting whenever I tried to take pictures unless my phone were plugged into a power source (either a wall-based adapter or a mobile battery bank). Even if my phone was fully charged.
So my battery has gone the way of the whale. We know what the problem is. And Justin has actually obtained everything he needs to fix/replace it.
But he’s been busy AS HECK, between working long hours and making Christmas presents for both of our families that we shipped to them (something he wanted to do this year).
I don’t really go out much, so I’ve been able to adapt to it by keeping my cell plugged in, either hooked to a charger or to a mobile battery backup bank that I keep in my purse if I have to go outside to meet a delivery person or go for a walk in the park.
What Happened When My Phone Unplugged Me #
Anyway, my cell phone can take calls but is otherwise haunted. It acts very strangely. And as a result, I’ve recently stepped away from using it unless I need it for something very specific.
I do all my work on my laptop, either standalone if I’m sitting on the couch or plugged into my docking station if I’m writing in my office.
This means I’ve become significantly harder to reach, since I’m doing almost nothing on my phone. I haven’t checked several group chats for a while.
And you’d think this would have a negative effect on my mental health. After all, I’m isolated at baseline due to the pandemic. Losing the fun parts of my phone seems like it would be a bridge too far. Instead, the opposite has happened. Using my phone a lot less has helped with my panic attacks. So I’m just rolling with it.
It’s not a social media break. I’m not offline or anything. Not a true tech break/unplugging. Because I’m online pretty much all the time for work.
But frankly, just switching my online life strictly to the laptop, taking it out of the palm of my hand…? Well, it feels different.
I’ll have the battery replaced eventually. At the very least I’ll need my phone to hold a charge better six months from now when I’m finally vaccinated and sliding back into some semblance of a new normal.
But for now, I’m not in a rush to be at its mercy again. Which is a very strange thing to say.