I Went Without A Phone For Almost 24 Hours! (And The Twitching Has Almost Completely Stopped Now.)

Several days ago my phone stopped working. Out of nowhere, it. just. stopped. I was playing Words With Friends and then, nothing. I employed my great technical knowledge which consists of turning the device off and on again. Only I couldn't even turn it off. I couldn't do anything. I stared at my black screen. The little white apple lit up for a couple minutes. Then it went black. Then the apple lit up. Then it went black. Repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

This occurred in the evening when no stores were open so there was nothing I could do. That would be stress-inducing enough, but my kids had taken my car and gone to Universal Studios for the day. The kids had been checking in with me throughout the day and I was worried they'd try to get ahold of me before they left to come home. And what if they went out to the car and it wouldn't start? Or what would they do if one of them tripped and broke their ankle? What if they got lost on the way home? Worrisome thoughts swirled around my head as I alternately stared at the blank screen, and attempted to turn the phone off again and again. More than once I thought - I know! I'll call them and let them know I can't text! 

Eventually, I thought to reach out to Savannah via Facebook messenger. She answered and was able to text the littles at Universal and let them know my phone wasn't working, and they could contact her if they needed anything.

I'm embarrassed to admit how many times I grabbed my phone that evening search up something . . . Nope. I picked it up to play a game . . . Nope. I tried to read the headlines, look at Facebook, check my email . . . Nope, nope, nope. I pulled out my phone so I could search the hours of the nearest AT&T store where I got my phone . . . Nope. Search IMDB to find the name of that one actor in the movie I was watching who looked so familiar . . . Nope. Add something to my grocery list . . . Nope. Check the weather for tomorrow . . . Nope.

The next day, feeling a little lost, I drove to the AT&T store and stood outside waiting for it to open. I pulled out my phone to check the time . . . Nope. Finally, a woman opened the door, a look of concern on her face at the undoubtedly rabid customer waiting not-so-patiently to rush through the portal like it was Black Friday and they were giving away iPhones.

In the end, she couldn't do anything to help, but tell me to go to an Apple store. I left AT&T and as I walked to my car, I grabbed my phone so I could call Apple and make an appointment . . . Nope. Okay, no problem, I'll just drive to the closest one and see if I can make an appointment there. I picked up my phone to put the address in my GPS . . . Nope. Defeated, I drove home so I could look up Apple stores and make an appointment on my computer. Unfortunately my wifi wasn't working. Because it goes out multiple times a day, every day. Because Spectrum sucks. And no matter how many times someone comes out to look at it, it still sucks. And unfortunately, I don't have a choice because my apartment complex has a deal with them. But that's another rant.

Frustrated, I woke up Clay and begged him to let me use his phone so I could make an appointment. Then I told him he had to stay up and come with me because I needed to use his phone's GPS in order to get to the only Apple store with appointment availability in central Florida which was 40 minutes away. And we all know I can't drive even 10 minutes away without getting lost.

So we got to the mall, checked in with the security guard monitoring the number of customers in the store, and got in the line of people waiting to get inside. 

As we inched along the socially distanced line, I glanced down and saw this:

"Do I do? Do I do what? What do I do?" I asked Clay. "I don't get it. Is this some sort of Apple thing?"

Clay looked down, then looked back up at me with this face - 😑

Grabbing me by the shoulders, he turned me around.

"Ohhhhh. Well, I feel stupid. I should probably document my stupidity. Because that's what I do." I pulled my phone from my pocket to take a picture . . . Nope. "Clay, will you take a picture of this sign for me?"

In the end, I learned that I am completely dependent on my phone.

Backing up to the cloud is a VERY good thing to do lest your phone has to be restored to factory settings.

Saving your Apple ID and password on your phone isn't very effective; making sure your kids know your Apple ID and password is.

And "Do I Do" means you should stand 6 feet away from others.