When did Technology become such a vital part of our lives?

I have been living without a phone since almost a month. Okay, correction: I have been living without a smart phone for almost a month. I do have a functioning phone in an old non-smart handset, but it doesn't have an internet connection and I am off WhatsApp and almost off all social media.

I had recently bought a Nokia Lumia 1520. Needless to say it is a high-end phone and I was more than satisfied with it. Loved it, to be precise. Then, one day I accidentally dropped it and it's screen broke, much as my heart. I thought, "Oh luckily, this time I have bought an insurance for physical damage so I am saved." Little did I know that it was the start of an ordeal. I called the Insurance company, in fact I couldn't even get through on their number for the first two days. Eventually I did, on 10th October, 2014. The lady told me they will pick the phone from my house within 24 to 48 hours. But no, they took full 7 days to do so and that too after scores of phone calls and after involving the retailer from whom I had bought the phone. Okay, not a good start but let's hope all goes well now, at least the person at the insurance company promised that it will. How wrong could I be? Two weeks, daily follow-ups and they hadn't even got my phone repaired. Their excuse? Well, sometimes they don't have staff due to Diwali and then later Nokia service centre doesn't have the part. I called up Nokia Service Centre and they tell me, "Ma'am you bring the phone, it will take about an hour to repair the phone." My Insurance Company had been fooling me.

I try to escalate by talking to the supervisor of the person concerned. He plays the same dirty tricks. Well, on 1st November, 2014 they eventually confirm that the phone has been repaired. But it's today, 5th November, 2014 and I still don't have it in my hand. And today I broke all records of phone calls. Record 53 calls made to the Insurance executives to at least force them to eventually pick up the phone and come up with yet another excuse. Furthermore, their excuses are getting dirtier and inhumane. "The executive who was on his way to deliver the phone has met with a serious accident." What the hell? If I tell them off saying that it's just one of their excuses, I am an insensitive person. Yes, that's exactly what they guy said to me. Can you believe it? Yet another promise of a 110% guarantee of the phone being delivered the next day is handed out.

So much for my physical experience. But, what about my emotional experience. I have been feeling depressed, cut-off from my friends and lonely. In fact, I have been feeling angry, harassed and stressed too. I have been seething with fury since this morning for being taken for a ride and have been unable to calm myself down despite all my attempts. I feel absolutely helpless and feel like crying. And to be honest, I haven't felt like this - so angry, so helpless and so depressed - since a very long time. I tell about this to someone and I sometimes get a reply, "Okay, it's just a phone. We didn't even have them till a few years back." And I feel like snapping back, "Have you lately tried living without your phone for a month?"

We belong to a generation who has done away with stereos, cameras, watches etc. ever since we shifted to smart phones. The first thing most of us look at when we get up in the morning is our phones and some even check it out a number of times at night. True, we didn't have them till a few years back. But, then nobody did and it wasn't just me alone without it. And therefore, people used other ways of keeping in touch. It wasn't like now when you keep in touch through WhatsApp and Facebook. Even office is easier to manage when you don't have to switch on your laptop before going to sleep or after getting up in the morning to check on your mails because you could simply do so through your. phone.

I don't know, I thought I might be able to calm myself down after putting all this in words here. But, for once, even this is not working. Dear God, I NEED my phone. PLEASE HELP! Before I go crazy!! I NEED MY PHONE!!!