Bad Break Up

This is about the time when my phone broke up with me.

I got my phone just last January 1, 2011 (yes, new year, new phone). It’s not a classy high-tech phone. I didn’t ask for one since all I needed from a phone are its text, call, and alarm capabilities. It’s actually a simple camera phone with a sleek maroon back case and an easy-to-use keypad. It’s very lightweight and didn’t create a bulge on my pants when I keep it inside my pocket. Ever since I got her, I always bring her anywhere I go, to class, to Katipunan, to the showers, really anywhere. Although she’s always with me, I know for a fact that I’m taking all her cool features for granted.

Despite being a cam-whore, I never actually utilized her camera for vanity. I only took a picture or two and that’s it. I also didn’t download any songs for her so that I have something to listen to when I’m bored. I just don’t feel that I should use her as an iPod because I wouldn’t be able to text using an iPod even if I wanted to. I didn’t even try to change her green monkey theme which is makes me sometimes feel awkward since it’s the color of the school in TAFT (shallow, right?). It’s actually refreshing to look at and that’s fine with me.  I also used her internet browser only once just to give it a try then I realized how much it would cost so I never again used her for checking my emails or Facebook. Besides, that’s why we have computers, right?

Sometime during the first week of school after Christmas break, I wanted to buy a planner for the New Year since now I know how helpful it is to have one. I wasn’t able to drink 17 cups of coffee in Starbucks so I didn’t get a hold of one of their limited edition, wood, red velvet, or elegant silver planner. Instead, I decided to buy one in National Bookstore. While in the store, I kept browsing the saved messages in my phone where all of the things I need to do were listed. During that time, I badly need a planner, I said to myself.  When I came across about a homework in Chinese Class to be submitted the same week, I checked my phone’s calendar to see if I still have time before I would be compelled to cram it. Then just as I was about to exit the calendar, I realized that phones have Add Day Notes Option. Because of that “wth?” moment, I spent a few more minutes in scrutinizing my phone and checking other stuff that it can do that is beyond my knowing. I realized that it also has a Create Note feature that lets me, well, create notes, up to 3000 characters. This means that I won’t be flooding my Saved Messages Folder with things-I-need-to-do messages. Also, I can save the said notes on my phone’s calendar so that I would see which will be the days that I’m going to be busy and which are just going to be chill for me. What I like about it is that each note also has its own alarm and icon that tell me how urgent the note is about. With this, I left the store without a planner inside my NBS plastic bag and that was the start of my wonderful relationship with her (my phone).

In the morning, I would wake up by the sound of her default alarm. I’d then reach for her underneath my pillow where I put her last night. Before bouncing off my bed and hitting the showers, I would check her for the things I wasn’t able to do yesterday that I really need to do today, the things I need to do today, and to give me a heads up, the things intended for tomorrow. After getting dressed and ready for class, I’d always make sure that she’s with me. Every after class, I’d reach for her inside my pocket and check for messages and notes to remind me again of what to do. At most, I check her by the hour and sometimes even during class if the subject is boring. Every time I get something done, I would erase that something from my list. During the day, I get to use her a lot for erasing things I need to do from her note list and for adding other notes that I get during class. What she has over planners is that I can easily erase or change scheduled things to do without the need to cross it out, unlike in paper, and get the spot look dirty. When I have nothing to do, I check her for my note list, not because I forget easily what I need to do but because I just want to look at her. As the day ends and I get ready to sleep, I would again check her for the my note list to see which are the things I wasn’t able to do and the things I need to prepare to do for tomorrow, at the same time, set up my morning alarm.

Everything was going great until something happened. The night before the day when it happened, I saw that her battery is low but I was too lazy to charge her since I’m already lying on my comfy bed, about to sleep, when I noticed it. The next day, I woke up by the sound of her default alarm. I reached for her underneath my pillow where I put her last night. Before bouncing off my bed and hitting the showers, I checked her for the things I wasn’t able to do yesterday that I really need to do today, the things I need to do today, and the things intended for tomorrow and saw that my day is jam-packed. You could even say that it’s my hell-est day yet. I the bounced off my bed and hit the showers. I then got dressed and went off to class. While walking in the middle of the path way in Cervini Field, I was holding her when she finally gave up on me, Battery Empty, Blank Screen, I’m not talking to you for some time, give me some space, good bye for now. It was just the start of my day and now I have to juggle the numerous things I need to do all alone, just by using shear memory earlier from reading the note list. I can’t go back to the dorm get her charger since I’m way behind schedule already. I never thought there was something greater than hell-est and I realized that thanks to our break up. In the end, at least I survived that day.

Modernization has given us so many choices of how to make our lives easier. Today’s generation was born during the time when most of the things that are very difficult a decade ago weren’t as difficult anymore now that we have the technology. As time passes, we see these products of modernization as the normally used and not the easier way like to rely on a cellphone to do all the planning for the day as what we usually do rather than writing it down or just remembering everything by heart . Remembering things to do for the day may sometimes be hard, that’s why there are other things one can do to make it easier. But when one relies solely on the easier thing, say the notes on the cellphone and not one’s memory, when the easier things fail, the harder things become frustratingly harder. We tend to forget that technology was born to make life easier but not to eradicate the basics. It simply helps us and helping is different from replacing.

After that break up, I never again treated my phone as a life partner but rather as a tool that would compensate if ever I forget some other things to do.