I am going to be doing a shortened version of the "VitaminWater challenge".

And instead of giving up my iPhone for an entire year, I'm going to be giving it up for just a week, which I think it's gonna feel like much longer than it is.

And instead of using a regular smartphone like I normally do, I'm going to be using a flip phone instead.

And this is my Tracfone that I got for 13 USD at Best Buy and it calls and texts and that's pretty much it.

So on any given week I use my one iPhone for about ten to 20 different things.

But to replace my smartphone for even just one week it requires all of these different things.

I have my book, my physical alarm clock, cash, stopwatch, a flip phone to call and texts, my iPod video, my recorder, hand-drawn maps and of course my desktop phone.

[Morning routine] So one morning during my week without a smartphone, I accidentally turned my alarm clock off, instead of pressing the snooze button.

And normally on my iPhone I have like three backup alarms set but I don't have any of those and so I ended up being late to work.

So I do physical therapy stretches every morning and normally as my phone as a timer, and this week, I had to use an actual stopwatch.

[At work] So I normally use an app on my phone record interviews but this week I had to use my desktop phone and a physical recorder to be able to do it.

I don't know how to do this.

I was surprisingly difficult to be able to a, track someone down who had and I could borrow and b, know how to set it up and connect everything correctly.

I'm going out to dinner tonight at a ramen restaurant in midtown and I kind of know how to get there but I don't exactly know how to get there.

[Getting around] So getting around the city was quite the process as I had to physically hand draw maps to give me directions.

And I need to go that way.

And even though New York City is a grid system and it was pretty easy, I still got turned around a few times.

Oh no, wait, no, this way!

[Going out with friends] At brunch, one of my friends offered to put our entire bill on her credit card and just have everyone pay her back and because I don't have access to Venmo this week, I had to scrounge around for cash, which I normally don't keep on hand.

Time to pay for brunch.

I felt so disconnected from my friends throughout this whole challenge.

I wasn't able to contribute to group chats; I wasn't able to give my thoughts or ideas of making plans.

Even when I hosted a game night, my friends hammered out all the details amongst themselves in a group chat and then just relayed it to me about a party happening at my house!

Texting might have been the worst part of the entire thing. It took forever to type out even just one text.

Gotta finish this text.

I did not miss social media at all.

And despite some hiccups getting used to the end-all technology, it was not nearly as annoying as I expected it to be.

I loved not being available 24/7 and I was 100 percent present in every moment.

I would never do this again because the problem is the sense of isolation.

From now on, I plan to limit the amount of time I spend just mindlessly scrolling.

But I'm not willing to sacrifice the sense of connection and being able to keep in touch with my friends and family.

Still texting.

And still texting.

I miss having autocorrect.