I Lost My Phone Abroad and It Was Exactly the Digital Detox I Needed

I'm aware that I'm writing this from a place of privilege; a lost iPhone is a nuisance for me, rather than an insurmountable expense. And the circumstances of the trip helped me get over the theft pretty quickly. I was waking up every morning to a blue, sunny sky after what felt like endless cold, dark months of winter. I was in a beautiful coastal town, where I could see the Mardi Gras parades from my hotel's terrace. I was safe and unhurt, which was more than I could say after I was mugged last year. I was still very much on vacation.

I would certainly be more alert to potential robbers, rogues and highywaymen while out and about, but I'd also have to be an idiot to focus on the negatives.

Sure, I had packed several cute outfits that would no longer be documented on Instagram, and it was a mild inconvenience to have to contact the friends I was away with through their hotel reception rather than via text. But it turned out, a digital detox was exactly what I needed.

Had I not been robbed on the first night of my holiday, I would have spend the next six days taking photos, filtering them, tweeting them and sharing them in group texts with unbearably smug faux-humble captions. I'd have read half a page of my book, posted a particularly meaningful passage to my Instagram Story, and then fallen down a scroll-hole. I'd have been so busy telling everyone what a great time I was having, that my long-overdue week off would have turned into just another week at the content mill.

As someone who writes for the internet and is perhaps a little too active on Twitter, being on my phone is pretty much my default state. I actually can't remember the last time I didn't have a device on me. (I suspect it was a hastily-booked, much-needed yoga class the morning after the 2016 election.)

Admittedly, I do take an adorable selfie, but being away from my iPhone was an acceptable price to pay for a week free from the 24-hour news cycle, the constant headlines that raise my blood pressure, the emails and DMs from trolls who just love to point out how deeply and angrily they disagree with the things I write. I decided to just go with it. What other choice did I have? According to 'Find My iPhone' my device was already in the fucking Netherlands.

What I wasn't prepared for was just how quickly being "off the grid" would change my behavior and state of mind. My focus improved, for one: I read an entire novel in one sitting. I swam length after length in the hotel pool without pausing to take a thirst trap in my trunks. I even journaled.

If I was meeting my friends for dinner, I'd show up on time, as I didn't have the means to send my usual "running 10 minutes late" text. And those dinners tasted just as good unphotographed. (It also didn't hurt that I was staying in an incredibly gay-friendly town, where one doesn't need to resort to The Apps to make a friend for the evening. But that's another story.)

Being fully unplugged for a week has meant that I've been able to return to work feeling genuinely reinvigorated. As I write this, my insurance company is dispatching a new device in the mail, but I'm already rethinking how I'll use my phone differently when it arrives. How much better I've been sleeping when I'm not staring at a screen late into the night. How not every push notification requires an immediate response. How some thoughts are probably just fine not being shared with Twitter.

One thing won't have changed, though. I still take a damn good selfie.

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I Lost My Phone Abroad and It Was Exactly the Digital Detox I Needed

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