Can You Go A Day Without Your Phone? Take the Challenge!

Growing up in the 70’s I had no smart phone, no tracking system, no texting, and no social media. Wow, what did I do without all of that? Well…
  • I had a curfew and a watch and when I wasn’t home on time, I was disciplined for not making that time commitment.
  • I actually had to communicate face to face with my friends by using verbal communication, not texting.
  • Navigation was through maps, AAA paper triptiks (small spiral notebooks) that showed the whole way to our destinations around the United States.
  • Since there was only one phone line coming into the house, I had to keep my conversations to a minimum with friends. Most of the time it was late night conversations when my parents had retired for the night.
  • Whenever I received a gift for birthdays, Christmas, Wedding, I was required to sit down and write personal thank-you notes to everyone involved.
  • Another popular way to communicate back then was with my CB radio (Citizen Band Radio-you might need to google it). Everyone would have an identifier or “handle”, Cricket was mine. I got my name from being small and noisy! It was great way to keep track of everybody in your friend group and cruise around downtown.
Communication has come a long way since the 1970’s, but during that time I was able to acquire many skills necessary to interact with people. With all this technology have we lost the ability to communicate face to face with each other and to use other basic skills such as written expression?

 A great way to put yourself ahead of the pack is to lay down that smart phone and make conversation with others and in person. Brush up on some of those old inter-personal skills such as, active listening, verbal & non-verbal communications, and critical thinking. Instead of an emoji, give someone a real live smile or a handshake.

Enjoy the freedom of being phone-free for a day, can you do it? Challenge your friends to see if they will take the plunge with you! You might be surprised about your discoveries when you give yourself a chance to look up instead of always looking down.


Cindy - ICAN Hiawatha Center