Today I left my cell phone at home. And much to my surprise, I didn’t even miss it. Not for a minute. I thought for sure that I would think about it all day long, that I would pine away until the time came when I would have my phone again in my sweaty hands. But no, none of that happened. I didn’t break out in a sweat, the sky didn’t fall and the world didn’t end.

When I told my students what I had done, they were more panicked than I was. There I was, sitting at my desk, pondering what I was planning on doing that day and the questions came at me rapid fire. “What are you going to do?” “What if you miss a text or a phone call?” “How will people know where you are and what you are doing?” As deftly as I could, I dodged each of the questions as if my non-existent street cred might be ruined.

How could I leave my house and come to work without my cell and survive? It’s a question I knew I had to find the answer to. But then I started to realize how absurd this all was. Why should I be worried that I left my celly at home? I have a landline in my office that anyone who needs to can get in touch with me if they need to. So why?

Can we all agree that we are all way too dependent on these and other electronic devices? Why do we need a cell phone with us 24/7? I know I may be showing my age here, but back in the day when I was a teenager, we all seemed to be able to get in touch with everyone we needed to when we needed to. It was as simple as finding a pay phone.

But today was liberating. I felt free. I wasn’t looking at my cell every two seconds for texts, missed calls and news feeds. I didn’t even worry that I might be missing something. What is that called? FOMO? Fear of missing out? The entire day seemed as if I was floating on a cloud and didn’t have a care in the world. And I didn’t even care who knew it.

But what will happen tomorrow? Will I forget it at home again? Will I choose to leave it at home? I don’t have an answer for you. Anything could happen.