Photo by Eirik Solheim on Unsplash

I’ve always been fascinated by those personal experience pieces in which folks report that their lives have been rejuvenated by the simple act of unplugging their mobile phones. The idea of replacing endless texts, emails, and Facebook messages with face-to-face interactions, not to mention eliminating interruptions while writing, is so appealing to me.

The problem occurs when being plugged in is a necessity, and getting unplugged is a mini-disaster. Take this past weekend, for example. I was at an outdoor arts festival with my display of books I hoped to sell. Business was slow for us authors, so I was elated when a family of six avid readers stopped by my table and expressed interest in purchasing my novels.

Alas, they had no cash, and I was unable to use my Square to take their credit. My iPhone, which I’d carefully charged earlier that morning, had mysteriously gone dead. Totally dead. No sale, all due to being unexpectedly unplugged. I couldn’t even call my husband for some sympathy. Mega-frustrating!

So, I guess I’ll forego my fantasy of shoving my cell phone into the recycling bin. Turns out being unplugged has its limitations.