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Illustration by Drew Shannon
What happened wasn’t really like killing two birds with one stone, but similar. Coincident.
After a string of months of simply too many cocktails, starting in festive December and seemingly wanting to continue forever, I chose dry-May, no booze.
A few weeks later, my phone died. After constant warning signs, which I routinely ignored, the charging port on my phone gave up. Apparently, it wanted to take time off, too.
The good news is that the respite from the booze was easy. Sure, it has occurred to me many, many times that month that now would be a good time for a drink, but thankfully I didn’t need it and have done just fine without alcohol. I recognized, however, how shockingly embedded booze is in our, or at least my, social system, and that Christmas, golf season or playoff hockey watching are all great excuses to indulge.
The phone was another story altogether. I did not volunteer to walk the dog without music or a podcast to listen to – I was forced to. I did not choose to start my day with a coffee yet without the puzzles I love – NYT Spelling Bee, Connections or a Sudoku – the apps were not an option. I had to fire up the desktop computer in order to revel in a Leafs victory because my phone, which would have delivered the news so naturally, was silent.
I was out of sorts.
First Person: There are good reasons why I still don’t use a cellphone
On that 16th day of dry-May, I noted the time: 10:57 a.m. I had been without booze for more than 400 hours and, somewhat distressingly, without my portal to the world for almost four hours. It shouldn’t have mattered, should it? It did. And that got me writing.
I shouldn’t want or need either booze or a phone as much as I do, or as much as we all think we do. In those 400 hours, I learned that there are a ton of other liquids to drink and that we are kind of idiots when we’ve had more than two or three drinks. I know I sleep way better without having had a few.
In my four phone-free hours, I realized that the dog walk in the woods is kind of therapeutic when quiet. I deduced that the “you averaged five hours and 32 minutes on your phone last week” message from my phone was worth considering and that it’s a huge waste of valuable time that could have been spent cutting the to-do list, or being more valuably engaged – maybe even with other humans.
As I planned my time that day, which included not caring that I had to take a trip to the phone store (in the busy mall on a long weekend to stand in line – because the phone is obviously essential. Isn’t it?), I immediately shifted into a way more productive mindset.
I quit my smartphone for two weeks to see if I’d have a better life
I assembled the tools to fix the basketball net that had laid on the driveway for weeks. I decided to get around to buying bags of planting soil that my wife has asked nicely about at least three times. I vowed to finish the book for which the Toronto Public Library had sent me a replacement bill since it was so overdue. I made sure to finally move the enormous cathode ray tube TV from the guest bedroom after ignoring the task for literally years. I also decided to take my family to a patio in the city that serves food we would never make at home.
I did all that, without a drink or a phone, and I have to admit it was refreshing. My carpe diem of sorts, which seemed worthy of sharing.
Make no mistake, I haven’t decided to give up alcohol or smartphones for good, but at least I have a refreshed and genuine interest in evolving my relationship with them, and that realization alone feels healthy.
Kevin Foley lives in Toronto.
