November 7, 2018

Third Entry — I decided to try not to use my cellphone for the whole day

Rencananya mau mempostingkan besok, tetapi ya sudahlah hari ini saja, lagipula rencana kita memang bisa berubah, bukan?

Nah, berikut ini entri ketiga saya untuk Dear Reader Contest tahun ini. Walau belum menang, seperti halnya sejumlah peserta lainnya yang telah beberapa kali mengikuti, saya tidak akan menyerah. Sekali lagi 🙂, mohon maaf untuk bahasa Inggris yang masih sederhana karena saya masih terus belajar. Semoga memberkati.


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I decided to try not to use my cellphone for the whole day yesterday. Starting from 4.30 am in the morning until the same time this morning.

My wife said, “Okay,” when I asked her permission before doing that.

I just wanted to know what would I feel or what would happen if I don’t use my smartphone for one day? Besides, there used to be so many things that we could live without, don’t we?

It could not happen overnight. I had to practice a while, some days earlier, not to use my phone on several occasions in some minutes or so.

There was still an urge to find where my phone was—which I already left at home before leaving for work—or to see whether there were notifications.

I happened to talk more actively, and attentively, to people because of not using my smartphone yesterday. And, my wife said last afternoon that I seemed to be having more stability. Perhaps it was because of I didn’t feel any urgency to rush out everything—a habit that is usually owned by many people nowadays.

I know, we still need technology. But, some say we need a balance. But, what is exactly a balance means? I think that a balance is really knowing when to put down your gadget and when to actually use it again. It’s not our third hand. It’s not our second life. A smartphone, or any other gadget, is only a gadget. And we shouldn’t have to be addicted to it nor with anything inside of it.

That is why I tried not to use it for one day. Just for one day. It could be more.

You should try it. No matter what. No excuses. There is no vain in trying.

October 6, 2018.