Life with a (not so smart) phone

It’s been a month since I lost my phone. I have not been able to buy/order a new one due to the COVID-19 lockdown. So I have been relying on my backup phone (my old Galaxy Y). I don’t know if many of you have seen this before, but it looks kind of like this:

A basic introduction for the newer generation that probably has never heard of this, it runs on Android Gingerbread 2.3.6. It was probably the best smartphone available for some years when it first came out around 2011 and it came with 5 different back covers! It came with both a data cable, a charger, and even an earphone. Probably everyone reading this is jealous now. Anyways, now that Android has officially withdrawn its support for Gingerbread, I ended up rooting this and deleting all the bloated apps of Samsung and even the Google Play Store.

I had no access to apps that are meant for higher end and at times lower end devices including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Thus, I installed BlueStacks after a few days to cope up with the WhatsApp situation. I guess WhatsApp is really required for me. It is probably the only medium through which I am connected to others around me. I play a lot of games, but most of them I play on my PC. There was no problem of not playing PUBG or anything like that. I can say that I have been managing myself rather well. There is no unnecessary distraction as I don’t look for my phone most of the times and I have been able to do a lot of things that I think I would not have been able to do if I had a phone. The galaxy Y still has some decent games that I can play including Chinese Checkers. I love puzzle games including checkers and sudoku, so, it makes my day. I have been busy playing volleyball and have been successful in maintaining a rather fulfilling exercise routine. I have learnt to spend more time with my guitar and other musical instruments I can find in my friend’s rooms. I recently learned the “Sweet Child O’ Mine” riff and it feels awesome!

The only major problem seems to be that I can’t access the internet outside of my room, as I don’t have a 4G enabled handset and BSNL 3G sucks big time. Man I realized just now that the handset I am using is 3G. I guess it’s better this way as I get more time to focus on things including this blog.

Have you ever experienced life without a smartphone that buzzes all day long? I think everyone should have a day like that in their lives. Just turn off the damn phone and give a day just to yourself and things that you really enjoy.