A Day Without Gadgets

25 hours, 41 minutes and 50 seconds.

That's exactly how long I was disconnected from the outside world lol, I mean that's how long I've been disconnected from the internet after my phone's battery was drained the previous day.

It's been almost a month since electricity was cut off in the area where I live due to the typhoons that pummeled our region for three consecutive weeks. Until now, we only depend on a generator for power supply. Unfortunately, my dad and my brother were not home yesterday so there's no one to operate the generator, and we have to endure not having a power supply for almost two days. I don't own a power bank for back up, I can't charge my phone and I'm too lazy to go to town just to recharge it. So I ended up enduring a day without using any gadget and this is how my day went:

Woke up at 5:30 am, linger in bed for about 20 minutes staring at the ceiling doing nothing. Right this moment, I usually have my phone on my hand, whether scrolling on social media or reading some articles on read.cash. But it was different this morning, my phone was dead and I can only imagine how many comments I must reply when I get back on the site. After minutes of gawking in space, I decided to just get off the bed and opened the stove to heat up some water. Prepared breakfast and made my little sister drink her meds because she's been ill since the night before (and my mom's not home to look after her). Did some household chores. At 10:30 am, we had lunch prepared, so we don't have a choice but to eat it.

Lunch ended, and we're all bored to death, so we decided to just clean up the rooms and the kitchen, folded the clothes and arranged the stuffs that aren't kept yet since the typhoon. After a short while, my mom called on my sister's phone (thankfully my sister still has a 1% battery life), and told us to dry out the palay (rice) seeds in the sun, so we did because we don't have a choice but to obey her. We simultaneously cleaned the house while looking after the rice seeds. Talked about random things just to entertain ourselves, looked back on some memories. Slept at 12, woke up at 1 pm to resume with the chores. Imagined myself holding my phone and reading articles in read.cash again (sadly, it's just an imagination).

So basically, we did a lot of chores today since there is no gadget to distract us. The house is gleaming when my parents arrived this evening, we had the rice seeds dried up. And it feels so good to be disconnected from social media for at least a day.

In this day and age where a gadget is no longer a luxury, but a need, since most people use it for work, schooling and other online transactions, it is sometimes a challenge to keep ourselves away from our phones and other gadgets.

Several years ago owning a gadget is a luxury, especially for people who live in developing countries. However, when smartphones boomed in 2012 it becomes more accessible to more people. Nowadays, people from various ages owns a gadget - be it a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop, Surprisingly, even a 5-year-old kid has its own tablet to watch his or her favorite cartoons. Owning a gadget is good because it can help us in many ways. We can use our gadget to surf the internet for a speedy research. Wherein we no longer have to go to a library and spend lots of time doing research, just go to google and you will get all the necessary information you are looking for in just one click. In addition to this, we can also use our gadgets for banking transaction, online shopping, online learning and connecting with our far-away loves ones.

Those are just few of the positive effects of owning of gadgets and there's a lot more. In spite of this, it's not all the time that using a gadget has positive effects. Though cellphones are designed to connect people it can also put emotional distance between people. Some neglects their families and friends because instead of talking to each other, they are sucked in their own world with their smartphones, tablet, or laptop. Pretty much of the time, a lot of people spends most of their time in using their gadgets. Some spends a whole day surfing the internet, reads chats and emails and checking their social media accounts.

There are some, mostly teenagers who lose all their time in playing mobile games. Indeed, mobile games are high-tech entertainment and there's a lot of cool games and apps out there that will really ease a person's boredom. Mobile games have become so popular that some people will not stop playing until they reach the level they are looking forward to achieving and even if they reach that specific level they feel like they have to play more to get the satisfaction they are looking for and not minding that they've spent so many hours and forgotten that there are a lot of more important things to do. Some even forget to eat and socialize.

When this happens, instead of people being in control of their gadgets, they are being enslave by it. Time is very precious and should not be squandered. If you feel like you are being enslaved by your gadgets here are the few things that might help you:

• Setting a time limit. Trying to use a timer when you are using your phone for social media and entertainment. Once you hear the timer, you'll know that it's time to stop and do some other things instead.

• Put your gadget away from your sight when doing an important task. Once your device is reached by your eyes you will only be tempted to use it so put it away from you.

• Set your priorities. What task should you prioritize instead of using your gadget?

• Ask for help. Sometimes it's hard when you do things alone. So try to ask a trusted family member or a close friend to help you get back in control of your gadgets.

As I mentioned earlier, it is good to use gadgets but you'll be happier and enjoy life more if you are the one in control of it. And it isn't so bad after all to have a day without gadgets. - @esciisc 💕

Lead image from istockphoto.com