On Smartphone Withdrawl →

Jenna Wortham with The New York Times:

While Hurricane Sandy left hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers without electricity or heat, the loss of one utility left some especially bewildered: cellphone service.

“Not having hot water is one thing,” said Kartik Sankar, 29, a technology consultant who lives in the East Village. “But not having a phone? Forget about it.”

The whole article is interesting. This paragraph sums it up nicely:

On the scale of hardships suffered in the storm and its aftermath, these were more like minor annoyances. But the experience of being suddenly smartphoneless caused some to realize just how dependent on the technology they had become.

I recognize this in myself, and as I read this piece, I felt the weight of my iPhone not only in my hand, but on my life.