I lost my phone and I don't care

I know, I know I should care. My friend Carly wrote last night to ask if I had found it. I was in the middle of groaning because my back is wrecked from moving stuff around. "No," I said, "I was in pain today. I'll go look tomorrow."

I am job hunting and pretty poor so am unable to just run out and buy a new one. Or that is my excuse. I am now enjoying going without a phone so much, the feeling is so liberating, I may just "forget" to go look for it.

Of course, I cannot live like this. For one thing, any job I take requires my having a phone. Editors are rather fond of being able to get in touch with their reporters. But my family rarely calls, favoring Gmail. My doctors and I often communicate online. I do Zoom, Skype, Microsoft Teams, etc. Do I really need a phone? You know the one, the one where you get obnoxious texts you are somehow tasked with responding to immediately? I do not want to text you a "Y" to confirm my attendance at the doctor's appointment. I already agreed to come!

Maybe digital natives won't understand my emotions, or maybe you will understand better than anyone (would appreciate your comments below). Imagine a world where you come HOME to get your messages from what is called an ANSWERING MACHINE. That used to be a thrill: "You have TWO MESSAGES." Heart would race. Did HE call? Did I get the JOB? Or before answering machines we just hoped we were home for the call. What did people do - horrors - when they could not reach their intended person 24/7? We CALLED BACK.

When I flip through carefree pictures of myself from the 60s through the 90s, I see a girl and then a teen and a woman unencumbered by The Phone. Pictures were deliberate and indelible, not scattershot. We didn't hit a button and take 19 photos of the same sequoia just because the dang light might change (it doesn't). Am I alone wanting to give up the phone?

If I applied for a job and did not provide a phone number, what chance would I have of getting the position? Or what if I kept the number but never found the phone? I can pick up voice messages. Maybe I will do that!

Today, if my back feels better I will go retrace my steps and go ask the nice folks at Walmart and other establishments where I have recently been if they found said phone. I will of course, thank them effusively if it is found. But then again, I may jump for joy if I go home without it today.