A Confession

I thought I would use this blogpost to confess to the world my chronic phone addiction and how this has recently lead me to some very dark places.

Once upon a time, not that long ago, I managed to get through life without a smart phone, or in my case an Iphone. I had the same little mobile phone for years and waited until I got home to read my emails or do anything I needed to do online.  Then a few years ago I bought myself an Iphone and I've been hopelessly in love and at the same addicted to it ever since. And I thought it was time to come out and confess... My name is Emma. And I'm an iphone addict.

There have been many highs and lows throughout my relationship with this device. It certainly spends more time with me than any of my loved ones and the thought of losing it puts me into a panic similar to losing my child in a shopping centre, only more so.  It's enabled me to become far more efficient at work, I can respond quickly to clients, I can keep up to date with emails, and I can stay in touch with Twitter or Facebook or any number of other social websites.  I am never ever alone.

I am hooked on Instagram, and over the last year have connected with many like-minded photographers and taken lots of photos of my dogs, my daughter, my garden and anything else in my life. And along the way also found masses of great camera apps which means hours of me fiddling on my phone. I love being able to keep up with all the latest news, other blogs, sites like Pininterest as well as the Guardian App and of course Angry Birds.

Some evenings I glance at my loved ones, also glued to their phones, either texting, on Twitter, Facebook or surfing the net and I miss the days before we had our phones.  We have allowed them to encroach far too much into our lives and in many ways they have become a blessing and a curse.

This week I briefly 'lost' my phone. The appalling panic which ensued has made me realise how much I have allowed this small shiny thing into my life. I experienced a temporary horror that everything in my world is actually on that phone, that if I were to lose it I would lose everything. Which of course is utter rubbish, but when you are hopelessly addicted as I am, it feels like that...

So what's to be done? I've tried cold turkey in the evenings, hiding it upstairs and instead of tweeting and texting and reading emails forced myself to read a book, but before to long I've found an excuse to creep up and find it again. I'm so lost to it that I'm even kidding myself these days!

Whatever did we do before we had these phones? How have they wedged themselves in so thoroughly into our lives? Answers on a postcard. Or a text, or via Twitter, or Facebook please.