Wednesday, October 7, 2015

An Object Lesson

I don't like it when the universe feels the need to teach me a lesson somewhat subversively, but that is exactly what happened today.  For no reason that I can identify, I managed to leave the house this morning without my phone.  I realized this about half way to school.  On most mornings, we could have turned around and run home to get it, but today the traffic was terrible.  Weber would have surely been late for school had we done this, so somewhat reluctantly, I said that I could do without it for today.

This should have been no big deal, right?  Not too long ago, no one carried phones around and the world continued to function.  I know that I don't use my phone for as many things as some; I do still keep a paper calendar.  However, I am more tethered to it than I wish I was.  Just how much so became painfully obvious today.

Here are all the things that ran through my mind today as I made peace with the fact that I would be phone-less
  • What if a student texts me regarding class?  If I don't respond, they will think that I am ignoring them.
  • I won't have my clock.
  • I won't have a metronome.
  • I can't check my email.
  • I can't take roll in class.
  • I won't get the text alert if we have "an incident" on campus.
  • I'll have to walk home without being able to call for help if anything should happen.
  • I won't be able to talk to Weber at lunch.
How ridiculous are all these concerns??  Well, except maybe the one about campus emergency alerts.  I am embarrassed to admit that these were real thoughts for me today.  And to top it all off, this thought also crossed my mind, "Boy am I glad that I don't use Apple Pay at Subway on campus.  At least I can still get a diet coke!"

As it turned out, when I got home and was reunited with my phone, I had had a text from a student saying that he wouldn't be in class and asking for assignments.  He is a student who is never absent and I was a little worried when he was not in class this morning.  I apologized for not responding sooner.  I think I was more concerned about that than he was.  Other than that, I managed just fine.  Today made me think about the fact that I rely too heavily on my phone for way too many things.  I have definitely been left with some food for thought.

Since we missed our midday conversation, Weber and I shared our day after we got home from school 


while we watched the newest resident of our backyard.