A few months ago, I wrote about the not quite whole week I spent without a phone. It was enlightening, mostly for all the reasons I wasn’t expecting. I set out to go to places and realized I had no idea how to get there. I tried to pay for parking and didn’t know how. I had to ask strangers for the time. Most of all, there was the silence. Not just the literal quietness of certain spaces, but the fact that I had to notice it. I sat in a doctor’s waiting room with the option to sit and wait, or…sit and wait. I talked to a stranger waiting in line. Why? Because we were both waiting to get our phones fixed. All we had was each other.

At first, with the exception of moments like that, it was kind of a lonely experience. Until I realized I wasn’t actually alone. Read More