Something horrible happened Friday night. I lost my phone…in Midtown Manhattan…in a city full of millions of people. I know. I know. Unimaginable. Horrifying. Heartbreaking.
Don’t worry, I got it back (miraculously) almost 24 hours later, but I learned a few things along the way.
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1. I don’t know anyone’s phone numbers by heart
Gone are the days of keeping an address book or (God forbid) actually MEMORIZING someone’s number. Can you imagine having to keep all that information in your head? With a simple click of a button, we can just save someone’s contact information without having to actually know it. How great is that? Not so great in emergencies, it turns out. People need people. Thank goodness I knew my mom’s number by heart. She was able to help me through the ordeal by tracking my phone and calling it every once in a while. Lesson Learned: I’m investing in an address book.
2. A phone, like everything else, is just a thing.
A thing with my entire life in its little clutches, yes, but a thing none-the-less and things, as many old wise people have said, do not give us happiness. I was stressed and anxious at first. Actually, I felt pretty powerless and lost, something I’m not proud of or happy about at all. Eventually, however, when I sat myself down and realized this important fact -- that losing my phone was not the end of the world -- I was able to relax a bit and it felt, frankly, freeing.
3. New Yorkers are really nice people, despite the stereotypes.
Generally, I have found this to be true. New Yorkers are people who do not, under any circumstances, tolerate being slowed down. Anyone who says New Yorkers are rude probably just doesn’t know the rules. Don’t try to sell them shit. Don’t stand at the bottom of an escalator (Please. Why? Why do people do this?). Don’t walk three+ wide on the sidewalk. If you need to stop to look for directions or anything else, move to a wall or somewhere else out of the way. It all comes down to being in a hurry. It’s a fast-paced city and everyone is going somewhere. That being said, if you really need help, someone will help you. I was astounded by the kindness of the people I asked for help finding my phone. I have now lost my phone twice in this city. Once I lost my wallet too. Both of these times, everything was returned to me unharmed. Maybe I’m just lucky, but I think it counts for something.
4. Experiences are better first hand.
I got my phone back, thanks to a very helpful security guard at Bryant Park, but even afterward I found myself challenging the ways I think about technology and the role it has in my life. In the subway station, on my way back home, I found myself looking up a lot more, taking in my surroundings. I understand the appeal of recording all of one's life experiences, but it’s important to remember that each experience you film or take a picture of is an experience lived secondhand, through a screen. Once in a while, maybe, it might be good for us to put the phone down and watch. You see a lot more, I promise, through the lens of your own eyes than through that of a camera.
5. It’s important to have the right attitude
Losing my phone was a hassle. It was stressful, exhausting, annoying. But it’s important to be optimistic about the little challenges life throws at you, whether it’s something trivial like losing your phone or something more painful like losing your job. Anything can be an adventure if you have the right outlook.
In the end, I’m not going to renounce technology or anything drastic like that, but I intend to keep these things in mind. Our technological devices are incredible tools and an amazing example of humanity’s progress… butt they aren’t everything. Forgive the cliche, but sometimes it’s good to stop and smell the roses (or the piss and car exhaust, as the case may be...Ah, New York, my beautiful, giant trash can, I still love you.)
