Kelly's World

This morning when I rolled over in bed I realised it wasn’t as sunny as it normally is. I peered out through the blinds and saw an extremely overcast sky. “Gee I hope it isn’t going to rain, I’d planned on riding to work today” I sleepily mumbled to Mat. By habit I went to grab my iPhone from the beside table so I could check the weather forecast, only to realise it wasn’t there. “Damn, it’s day 2 of the byePhone challenge” I announced frustrated. Mat merely giggled. And thus my day began.

Since I felt like yesterday wasn’t too bad I decided I was going to challenge myself today. After discovering the weather was going to be fine (via the Bureau of Meteorology website on the PC), I confirmed with Mat that I would ride my bike in. Normally this means that my iPhone would go in the front pocket of my backpack, earphones hanging out so I could listen to music while I rode. Today, I would have my iPod so I wasn’t completely without music. The only problem was that as I was riding in I realised I’d made a stupid choice for a playlist which had some non-favourable songs included. Typically one came on just as I was riding on the downhill/fast bit of the ride to work and I didn’t really want to stop the momentum just to change song (since the button on my iPhone headphones doesn’t work with my iPod). I frowned and kept riding, putting up with it.

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After the initial rush of getting the iPhone ready for a week with Mat, the challenge started at 9pm last night – only an hour after the original deadline. The reason for that is while I’m missing the iPhone for a week I want Mat to get the full experience, from receiving a nice clean phone to filling it with wonderful (and sometimes unnecessary) apps. Hopefully by the time next Monday night rolls around he will have seen for himself why I adore my phone so much and will want one for himself.

After I had handed over the phone I started playing with the replacement nokia. While I thought it was a brilliant phone when I had first gotten it (one of the first phones to have inbuilt GPS with maps and turn-by-turn navigation) it just couldn’t compare now. There was no twittering from this phone, no wifi, and no way of easily locating apps to download and install. Of the “apps” that were designed for the phone, 99% of them are games, and dodgy ones at that. I could tell already this phone was purely going to be “just a phone” over the next week.

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Firstly, thanks to @Agent_x and @Keija for providing me with a name & subtitle for the challenge. My idea of “no iPhone for a week” was just plain sucky. Thank god for twitter (and creative people able to make catchy names).

Ever since I announced the challenge I’ve had people tell me I’m nuts, that I’ll fail, and why the heck would I want to do such a thing. It’s simple really – I love to prove I can do things. I love making lists, and getting them all done. I love someone saying I can’t do something, and proving I can. That’s partially the reason behind my annual “things to do” lists (new year “tasks” rather than resolutions), and my crazy “give up chocolate for one month and be really stupid by doing it during the Easter period” task.

I don’t expect it to be easy. In fact, I expect that I will be whinging & bitching for most of the week about it, and there’s quite the possibility I could cry like a baby when my phone is returned. But It will be an interesting experiment to see just how much my life has changed since getting the iPhone, and seeing how truly dependent I am on it. For those who don’t have an iPhone (or blackberry or android phones) they just don’t understand why this challenge is such a big deal. I don’t know whether a week without my iPhone will cause a decrease in the quality of life I lead or whether it will be totally refreshing. I might come out on the other end and see that the iPhone truly is just another gadget that I want, not need.

I know there’s a few particular apps that I will missing in particular:

1. The calendar – I have a goldfish memory, plain and simple. Without the calendar I’m going to have to write myself paper reminders (the calendar on the nokia isn’t even worth contemplating) and stick them in my bag. It’s the old skool method my mum uses. I’ve already checked the week ahead and made sure there’s no appointments I’ll be forgetting about during the challenge.
2. Twitter – one of the best features about twitter is having it on your phone, and being able to use the GPS functionality to see what’s going on around you, not to mention be able to tweet things as they come to mind. Given I will be working 5 out of the 7 days of the challenge, I will still have twitter at my disposal via a computer, but it’s really not the same. When I’m out and about and have 5 minutes to spare, what am I going to do instead of reading everyone’s tweets?
3. Beejive – this is a combination of time wasting as well as laziness. I have a few friends that I constantly keep in touch with via instant messenger, and having the ability to use it on my phone means that if I’m at home I don’t have to sit at the computer to chat with them. I can sit on the couch and use my iPhone. That’s the laziness part. The time wasting is in conjuction with twitter. When I’m standing around somewhere and have 5 minutes to kill, I can’t log in online and hope there’s someone to chat to. I’ll have to *shudder* find something non-iPhone related to do!
4. ShapeUp – I’m currently trying to watch what I eat and lose weight. Part of that is doing the ol’ calorie counting, which is where ShapeUp comes in. Open the app, type in the food I just ate, it adds the calories and I see how much I have remaining for the day. I can also put in my exercise and see how it offsets my calories I’ve consumed. Not having the app with me for a week means that I’m going to have to keep a notepad with me, and consult a weight watchers points guide. There’s no way I could work out calories based on the nutritional panels on food by myself. Missing this app is really going to hurt
5. C25K - this app is used in conjunction with the “Couch to 5k” running program. The app basically counts down the time remaining in the work out, and tells you when to warm up, run, walk or cool down. Makes it only one hundred times easier for me, since I can focus on the work out and not the clock. Also going to be greatly annoying missing this app.
6. Safari – before I fall asleep I usually spend about 15 – 20mins using safari to browse my google reader feeds. I expect for this week I’ll go to bed and twiddle my thumbs on what to do. Perhaps I’ll have to pay some attention to Mat instead *shock horror*

Of course there are other smaller reasons I’ll miss it – not being able to google search on the fly, not playing some games when sitting around bored etc. Missing the majority of the apps above  means a  lifestyle change for which I have to anticipate for the changes and ensure I’m prepared in advance.

I haven’t even started the challenge yet, and already I’m amazed by just how much the iPhone has truly changed my life. I hope this week goes fast.

Recently I challenged my boyfriend, Mat, that he couldn’t go without poker for a week. That meant no watching any on tv, no going to any events in real life, not even a game on the computer or phone. In return, I had to give up my iPhone for a week. The loser had to cook & clean for a week (while the other barely lifted a finger). Initially, the challenge was accepted, and we chose a date to begin. When the date rolled around, he was reluctant to do so. Thus I deemed him a failure, but was too nice to insist he cook/clean for a week. While glad I didn’t have to give up my iPhone, I also felt disappointed that I hadn’t had a chance to challenge myself (especially when 99% of the people on twitter felt sure I would lose).

Then Jo stepped in.

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