The weekend before last, I made the brilliant decision to jump into the Connecticut River with my iPhone in my pocket. My phone was out of commission for two whole days, and I was limited to communicating via smoke signals and carrier pigeons. Surprisingly, from this apparent catastrophe stemmed the most revealing and relaxing 48 hours in recent memory.
My initial reaction was naturally one of dismay. I knew that I would likely be phoneless without drastic and immediate action. I was thus in full panic mode as I raced home from the docks. My breathing only returned to normal once my precious mobile device was safely submerged in a bag of rice. As I stared at my newly lifeless iBrick, I drafted blitzes to my mother, friends and fraternity brothers to inform them of the great tragedy that had befallen me. Indeed, I was in a dark place.
I am one of those unfortunate iPhone addicts I respond to blitzes and texts like lightning and rarely look up from the screen as I trudge across campus. My off-term this spring only exacerbated this despicable habit, as I spent the majority of my commute buried in music and applications.
Therefore, in that moment the prospect of not having the world at my fingertips was admittedly terrifying. But to my great amusement, having my iPhone unceremoniously ripped out of my life was one of the best things that has happened to me this summer.
After moving past the immediate feeling of nakedness, I found the absence of weight in my left pants pocket to be liberating and enlightening.
This blessing in disguise highlights one of the instrumental dynamics of Dartmouth life the fear of missing out, or "FOMO," as Patrick Chen '12 defined it in the spring ("The FOMO Phenomenon," March 30). Dartmouth students know that here in this hyper-social oasis in the woods, we're expected to be "involved" and accordingly feel pressure to be constantly living it up. Oddly enough, this mentality is only exacerbated during sophomore summer the alleged pinnacle of our Dartmouth experience, when we're supposed to do everything and nothing simultaneously. Even if people are saying it ironically, there's some implicit truth in the "YOSSO" mindset because you only "sophomore summer" once, right?
For a while this term, I thought I was doing well with stepping back from the organized chaos of a normal Dartmouth term. I was openly boasting that my personal theme for the summer was "no commitments." But until my iPhone went swimming, I hadn't paused to think about whether I was following through on the promise that I made to myself.
In some ways, I have embraced this summer wholeheartedly participating in Strips, living in my fraternity and shirking my homework to swim, hike or play volleyball. In other ways, the fact that I'm even asking myself these questions or that I was so traumatized about damaging my cell phone lays bare both my commitment to the inane social habits of this campus and my own personal fear of missing out.
Before my fateful leap into the river last Saturday, I hadn't noticed things like how picturesque Baker Tower looks against a backdrop of "Toy Story" wallpaper clouds on a sunny morning, probably because I was previously glued to my phone on my way to breakfast.
There's a strong perception on this campus that checking out of life for any extended period of time is somehow against the rules. In the past, I would berate my roommate for checking blitz infrequently. But while my phone was sitting in that bag of rice, it occurred to me that even if I'm off the grid for a few hours, I can almost always catch up on whatever I've missed. What I can't get back is the time I waste on blitz, texting and Facebook.
I wouldn't be so foolish as to denounce technology or suggest that we all become hermits. Yet we're now past the halfway point of our sophomore summer the crossroads of Dartmouth's crossroads. Instead of fretting over what you might miss by leaving your phone in your room when you head down to the river, soak up the moment. There probably won't be another one quite like it.
