One of the worst yet best things happened to me at a concert last week: my phone died. I didn’t realize how annoying it was to have a phone attached to my hand during any and all cool things that I experience.
My life behind a screen began last year, when I boarded a plane for Florence, Italy and traveled around Europe for a semester. I was constantly taking pictures of things that I saw. I actually had a panic attack while at the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam, because I was terrified that I wasn’t taking enough pictures of everything, which is ridiculous. I should have been more worried about not experiencing the beauty of the cities I was visiting. Now, a year later I completely regret not living life beyond my iPhone.
Last week I saw Bastille at Radio City Music Hall for one of my friend’s birthdays and it wasn’t until we reached Penn Station that my friends
and I realized that none of us brought a phone charger and we each had about 50 percent battery left. We were screwed. How the hell were we going to figure out where to go to dinner, or what time train we should take back to Stony Brook? We decided to do something unheard of in the 21st century: we shut off our phones.
While at the concert we turned on our phones just to check train times and that’s when my phone screamed at me that it was low on battery. I got a few pictures of the concert in before it died and then something weird happened; I actually paid attention to the stage rather than my screen. I noticed that everyone around me was watching the concert through their iPhone cameras while I actually enjoyed the concert. It was stress-free and I actually had fun.
Ever since I’ve made a more conscious effort to not whip out my phone to document everything that I see, but to live in it instead.
Next time you go to a concert or a museum, turn off your phone and soak it all in because living in the moment feels so much better than getting over fifty likes on Instagram.
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