Gone are the days when I used to say I can't spend a couple of hours without my phone. Life has really taken a new shape for me, and I can spend hours and days without my phone. I haven't tried the "days" yet, but I've tried the "hours" multiple times, and I didn't feel the absence. Once I'm physically occupied offline with something that earns me money, I can skip my phone for hours as long as the expected amount I'm targeting is sure and worth it. But when it comes to the idea of intentionally leaving my phone without engaging in anything money-making offline, maybe just because I want to prove to people how long I can snub my phone, I can't last for an hour without reaching for my phone. I remember a certain time when my phone was faulty and I took it for repair. It lasted for two days, and I could barely live normally during that period, and that was because I wasn't engaged offline with anything tangible. My life was totally dependent on my phone then. I was hunting for money from every angle I knew, using my phone. That was why the absence of my phone during that period felt as if I had been thrown into prison with no one to talk to.

As of now, there is nothing special keeping me attached to my phone. Although I still earn money while using my phone, that has reduced to the very lowest minimum, and if a good opportunity to earn money offline presents itself, I can fling my phone away for days without thinking about it.

As weird as this sounds, my phone isn't used for petty calls on a very regular basis. I mean, calls to family or friends. So, if I needed a phone just to make calls, I could quietly switch to very simple phones without internet connection and be at peace. But phones have been integrated into our daily lives.

These days, smartphones have become someone's tool of work. Without smartphones, one can't smoothly run a business, especially when it comes to financial transactions and keeping records.

The easy promotion of our businesses is not left out either. So, if the idea is about leaving the phone behind for personal lifestyle and not for business, I can confidently do without my phone for days. But when it comes to the business lifestyle, nope, it's totally impossible.

So, what is my take as the debate stands with me right now?

I run a business, and my phone is my everything now. I use it to contact my clients and also use it to make financial transactions. So, I doubt I can stay off my phone for a whole day. The longest I can go for now is six hours. My data is always on, and even if my phone is away from me for this length of time, I can quickly fall back on it and sort out everything I needed to attend to.

Thanks for reading.

Photo is mine. Edited with Chatgpt