Quick! Where’s your cell phone right now? Wait! Did you just feel something vibrate? Was it mine? Oh, it’s just Twitter. Never mind.

Our cell phones seem like they’re attached to our hands almost every second of the day. God forbid you miss a call, take more than two minutes to answer a text message or don’t see that email you were CCed on about that club you’re only remotely interested in.

Stop a minute and think about what it would be like if your cell phone was suddenly gone- missing, lost, stolen or broken beyond repair. Sound like a nightmare?

I was faced with this very scenario two weeks ago. One minute, my cell phone was safe and sound in my pocket. The next, it was gone forever.

There was the denial – oh, no, it’s here somewhere. We just have to look around for it. It’ll be fine.

There was the initial panic– oh, crap. What the heck am I going to do without that thing?

There was the REAL panic- oh. Oh, no. My life was on that phone. I have to tell my parents. They’re going to kill me.

There was the regret – Why did I put it in my pocket? What was I thinking when I let it out of my sight?

Then there was the acceptance. After searching high and low, I knew my cell phone was gone. I began the process of mourning my technological loss.

I got no text messages. No phone calls. I didn’t know who had e-mailed me or who had tagged me in a photo on Facebook.

And you know what happened? The world kept turning.

After a few days, I even began to see the upsides of being phoneless: nothing was constantly buzzing in my pocket during class. I was actually able to concentrate on the tasks set before me and finish them without being distracted. When I sat down at my computer, I actually had something new to look at.

Another pleasant side effect of losing my phone was that I talked to the people around me. Having lunch with friends? No annoying interruptions to the story being told. In a meeting with my advisor? No loud buzzing from my bag to make me wonder who was trying to contact me.

I also cut out a lot of unnecessary communication. Turns out you don’t have to tell someone about something that happens the very second after it occurs. Not everything has to be tweeted or instagramed.

Cell phones are awesome – they let us connect with other people no matter where we are and they are incredibly impressive pieces of technology. But, truth be told, losing my cell phone was a real eye-opener and was probably one of the best learning experiences I’ve had recently.

I was reminded of just how much of life you miss if you’re constantly focused on the 4-inch screen in your hand. I was reminded of the freedom you have when you can’t be reached wherever you are. I was reminded of how nice it is to have a conversation without even one single interruption.

I’m not saying everyone needs to throw away their cell phones. I was one of those people who would never think of leaving their phone at home or in my room when I was going somewhere. But now, I highly recommend it.

Be brave, Gaels. Do yourself a favor and ‘lose’ your phone for an hour or so. Heck – lose it for a whole day. You’ll be surprised at how very capable you are of living without it, and about what experiences you’ll gain when your’re not busy texting.

Obviously, I could not continue on in this phoneless state forever- who could, really? I had to get back to reality and to the many demands that I face on a daily basis. So I went to AT&T and got a phone that makes calls and texts. It doesn’t do e-mail, Facebook or Twitter- but you know what? Somehow, I think I’ll be just fine.

To contact The Ionian’s Julie Donato e-mail her at [email protected]