As soon as I hit Alaskan soil, I lost all cell phone service. I didn’t think much of it, as it was late, I was tired, and I just wanted to find a spot in the Anchorage Airport to curl up and get some sleep.
Upon landing in Nome, I still wasn’t able to get my phone to work. Now I was a bit concerned. Along with all of my recent life changes, this was just another to add to the list. I spent a day with Verizon technical support and sent my phone back to the Lower 48 to figure out the problem.
The past month without my cell phone is the first time I’ve been without a phone since I can remember — which, I realized, was kind of pathetic. In the 2 years since I bought a smartphone, I have rarely let it out of my sight, let alone my grip. Working in the media industry kind of demanded this type of dependent relationship. Many jobs I held blurred the line between office hours and free time. Being a freelancer meant always searching for jobs wherever I was or having the ability to reply to a message minutes after it was sent in order to secure work. I found myself refreshing my email relentlessly, even if I had just checked it seconds ago.
This type of immediacy is lost in Western Alaska. I started to experience things fuller. I went out with nothing in my hands to distract me. I went on walks with no maps. I stood in line at the post office with only my thoughts. I’ve been on hikes without taking/posting pictures. In these past few weeks, I’ve lived in the moment.
I got my phone back in the mail about 2 weeks ago. Turns out I had some weird privacy switch turned off, so it was my fault it didn’t work the entire time. But, I still learned this: when I rushed to turn my phone on and catch up on all the Snapchats and Instagrams I had missed, I realized I had missed nothing at all.
This year in Nome is about experience. This year is about being aware and living in the moment. And as great as it is to be able to contact friends and family again with ease, my phone will be spending less time in my pocket.