I had an eye appointment at 10:00 a.m. the other day. I missed it.

I did what most people have done before. I forgot the insurance card. In a panic I alternated between calling my mom and my sister for what seemed like 15 minutes. It was more like 10. All the while I was walking around the JC Penny trying my damnedest to find the office. I couldn't so I called the office and asked where they were and if I could reschedule for later in the day. I then angrily drove home and laid into my my "utterly useless emergency contacts." Why didn't they pick up their phone when I was calling? What is the point of having a phone if you're not going to use it for it's real use?! I got two answers. One was that "my phone is always on silent." I asked her why she even had a phone and didn't just carry around a laptop if she only wanted to have texting and computer capabilities. The second was, "I don't have my phone because I ran here. I also like seeing how many people try to contact me during the day." (I called her petty and was legitimately frustrated.

Here are people who have a tool so powerful, and they aren't using it for the base function it was originally designed to fulfill. Instead of using the phone as a device to contact other people they are using it to watch videos of cats, talk to people they have never met, read books they've never heard of, listen to music, take photos of things like concerts or experiences. People don't use their phones as phones anymore. We are walking around with pocket computers that are so different and fascinating that we can't tear our eyes away from the big world the phone has inside it.

So much is held in the palm of our hand. We have access to so much that we hardly need to leave the house. But we rely on our phones for more – now, than ever before. Left to our own devices of the non-mobile variety, most of us are screwed. People don't use their phones how they were designed. Phones have become computers. We want the fastest computing power, the biggest hard drives, the best cameras. All the while, our call quality is the same shit it has been since forever.

Why do we continue to accept complacency of not moving and just traveling the world through videos and pictures on our phone? How come we can't pick up the phone and call someone? Why can't we just make plans, and then keep them?

I was mad at my "useless emergency contacts" for not answering my phone calls. It was only a week later that I realized that, had I put my phone away and asked someone who worked at the store for help, I wouldn't have missed my appointment.

The moral of the story is: Put your damn phone down and enjoy the beautiful life around you. Explore real life and try to keep using your phone as a phone first. This is hard to do, but it's worth it.

I have started turning my phone on "Do Not Disturb" on the weekends and turning email notifications off. I want to be more present. I am worth the calmness.