A few years back my mother once made a joke about how much attention I gave to my smartphone. According to her, I don't even confirm if I am even alive because once I'm up the first thing I do is reach out for my phone before even making a full confirmation about my health or saying a prayer. My old lady wasn't wrong then and even looking at now, she's still right. The bond I share with this device is so strong that I now call it "The love of My life". It is the first thing I reach for when I wake up and the last thing I touch before falling asleep, sometimes I even pick it up without even realizing as it is now an extension of my own body. As much as I admit to how much relevance I accord to my device, the question of how long can I stay without it used to be one I never gave much thought to because I have always had it with me until a recent ugly experience. Sometimes I joke about it whenever the topic comes up but having to actually live it is not something one can ever truly prepare for.
During the month of July, Igbokoda which is a town in Ondo state experienced horrible electrical conditions because of the heavy rainfall which only deteriorated until there was no electricity at all in the entire town (unless for alternative sources). This made life quite difficult, because I was always moving about with a charger looking for where to charge my and other stuff every single day and sometimes can't even find one even with the money to pay for it. Frustrated I was forced to buy an extra power bank as back up for my phone, flashlight and anything rechargeable I owned, it wasn't easy but at the very least it made the black out bearable sadly for me this also brought with it a tragedy that rattled me for days.
It was a cool rainy Friday night, I had just returned from helping a friend salvage her properties after her apartment was hit by a flood. I was tired, cold and needed a hot bath to rejuvenate my spirit so I needed to boil water but the room was dark and my rechargeable bulb was dead, my power banks were both charging so I decided to use the flash light from my phone. My neighbor borrowed my only kettle and I opted to use a pot as it was the next best thing. I kept the phone on the kitchen counter just above the open pot and rushed to go take a piss just to come back to find my phone's light shining inside the boiling pot after vibrating its way there from a phone call. I took it out and the moment I tried to get the water out, the phone went off on its own signally doom. That night was hell to me, I couldn't sleep and it felt like something inside of me broke.
The next morning I rushed to go get the phone fixed but was told I wouldn't be able to get the phone back until after 5 days as the engineer needed to change something but it was not available in that town so I had to wait for its arrival. This period made me reevaluate myself and it was certain that being phone less was driving me crazy, I was cut out from the world and even when I talked to people I still felt alone. Those 5 days seemed like eternity, people tried to call me for awhile but couldn't unless I reached out. This experience served as a reminder about how much my whole world revolved around a smartphone and still does. I am not ashamed to admit it, I am pretty glued to my phone and I don't even plan to stay away from it even for a second. Call me obsessed if you want, I don't mind, my phone makes me happy so I don't see why I shouldn't have it with me all the damn time....
Thank you
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