By 
“I should name my phone, I like it so much,” is something I was quoted saying on Friday just a few hours before my brand new iPhone 8+ was stolen right from under me. Immediately I realized it was a lost cause, on FindmyiPhone it had disappeared making it clear that someone had turned it off.
I was completely distressed and spent the whole next day calling the restaurant and looking all over London for any trace of it. I am still frustrated with myself for not backing up to iCloud because I lost my notes and photos; including a lot of work for some of my classes and a few blog posts I had planned as well as some important memories to me. The five stages of grieving clearly happened in front of my own eyes but I am lucky to say I came out of it having learned a lesson.
“Nope, it’s not stolen. It’s probably under the booth,” I thought all night and even on to the next day as I convinced the employees to move every piece of furniture for me to have a look. No luck.
I sent the culprit responsible for the loss of my phone several threatening messages begging him to return it. These he/she will probably never see it because they took it apart and sold it for the parts, but it’s the thought that counts right?
I thought to myself, why couldn’t they have stolen my wallet?? I bargained with them promising if they returned the phone that I would not press charges but still no response.
This stage truly came through when I realized that the hours I spent shooting a blog post in the cold wearing uncomfortable heels became worth nothing. The images now only exist in my head.
For some reason at this point, a reminder of every bad decision (unrelated to the issue at hand) that I have made in the past 2 years flashed before my eyes.
I ended up purchasing a used iPhone 6+. The outcome is hard to accept but I’ve come to a point where I am learning from the experience. The most important thing I think I learned is that it’s ok to go offline for a little bit. I mentioned previously that I took a break from Instagram for about a week over the holidays but that was nothing compared to giving up my entire phone.
Something that surprised me was that I really wasn’t missing much when I didn’t have it. I think I waste a lot of time combing through social media with no purpose or reasoning and I realized when I logged back on that there wasn’t much to see since I had been gone.
I listen to music everywhere I am going and was rattled when I left the house without headphones but this caused me to spend more time on self-reflection as I went from place to place.
While I wish I could get my own phone back, I don’t think I would give up the time I spent away from technology because it gave me the opportunity to live in the moment. I just purchased more storage on iCloud and downloaded Google Photos so I should be protected from any future damage.
