5 Lessons Learned when I Shattered my iPhone

I have always been an iPhone fan and you would think after dropping my phone hundreds of times, sans case, I would get smart and put the case back on it so that it wouldn’t have a clumsy demise. I am on my third generation of iPhone and was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the iPhone 6 so that I could upgrade to the next latest and greatest thing. I had been having some memory problems on my current iPhone 5 (oh, storing 4000 pictures on your phone isn’t normal?), so was looking forward to the fresh new start.

And then I dropped my phone for the last time.

It was one of those funny-not-funny moments, in which all I could do was laugh. I have dropped my phone in the snow, in a puddle, down a flight of stairs, off my concrete front porch. It has fallen from my coat pocket, out of my car door, and out of my hand many times on rock-hard cement, gravel, and sand.

But this time, my elbow grazed the phone as I was making my Bulletproof coffee, knocking my precious iPhone off of the kitchen countertop and onto my cheap, faux-linoleum fairly soft, stick-on tile. Since I was quite familiar with my phone making contact with the ground numerous times, I knew what sound to expect. But this was an unfamiliar sound.

I laughed.

I cried.

Okay, I really didn’t cry, but I had already been mentally preparing to put this phone to rest and purchase the new iPhone so I took a deep breath, made peace with my newly destroyed device, and learned a few lessons over the next few days.

Protect your investments

Hello, Captain Obvious.

I have a bad habit of being careless with a lot of things, and my phone is something I take for granted. Even though there is some great technology that has allowed phones like mine to be put through a lot of wear and tear with minimal damage, be smart. Put a case on your phone. Right now. And then leave it on there. Don’t take it off because it will fit in your mini-purse better that way. Or because it doesn’t slide into your back pocket as easily with the case on.

My anxiety was slightly reduced

In my anxious mind, I tend to have an obsession with needing to check my phone all of the time. What if I miss something important? What if something happened and someone is trying to get in touch with me? What if I don’t respond right away to her and she thinks I’m ignoring her? What if..???

With only checking my phone when necessary as to reduce the risk of slicing my finger on my shattered screen, nothing bad happened. No one got mad at me for not texting back within minutes. Nobody died.

All of my friends still liked me. Well.. did..

iPhone users are haters

..and you find out who your real friends are (kidding).

Now that my phone reached an inevitable demise and I had a week before the new iPhone would be available for pre-order, I had to make a decision on if I was going to wait it out or venture off the Apple path. When I posed the question on my Facebook fan page and even to some of my outside-the-interweb friends, it is amazing the negative responses that I received! It’s just a phone! 🙂

As an avid iPhone user, I get the brand loyalty. But other than my mom (who is happy with what she calls her “1G” non-smart phone), and my baby sister, just about everyone else I know is on the iPhone. So I was betraying them all by no longer having iMessage..

But.. Android is kind of awesome

Please, iPhone haters, don’t get mad at me.

I’m a convert. And I could write a whole post on why I have opted to ditch Apple after six years of comfortable bliss and buy my very first anti-Apple smart phone, but I will just say I am very happy with my decision to try something new!

And everything on this phone makes so much sense!

We are too reliant on technology

What in the world did we do before smart phones?

Nothing catastrophic happened while I was unable to use my phone but my inability to look everything up quickly or to idly scan my phone for what is going on in the social media world was a bit refreshing. Just as I am sure many others are, I am guilty of constantly picking up my phone and clicking on apps just because.

I wake up. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Pinterest. Timehop.

Probably nothing that I read in the morning will have any impact on the rest of my day. Seeing others’ statuses rarely has an impact on my life and the latest things on Twitter or Pinterest will not have much bearing on my day. But we obsessively check them..

My new phone was delivered (thank you, Amazon!) on Friday and since it so new and foreign to me, I have fallen a bit back into the old habits, but it was quite liberating those few days that I was not fully connected. I am hoping that lesson will stay fresh in my mind and I will take the time to put the phone down more and know that the world is not going to end if I do.

Your turn..
Android or iOS?
Have you ever destroyed a cell phone or other expensive piece of equipment?
How reliant are you on your phone for everything?

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