Between Our Steps: A Phone-Free Market Day in a World That Never Pauses
When a local vendor forgets their phone on a tense news day, a routine Saturday at the Owen Sound Farmers Market becomes a quiet lesson in disconnection, presence, and what can truly wait.
COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION
These days, I only listen to the radio in the car. I am enjoying the silence at home, and catching up on what’s happening in the world while driving into town.
Heading in for the Farmers Market on a Saturday, I caught CBC’s World Report. Shock hit. Israel and Iran were firing missiles at each other.
I had known that tensions were high ahead of a Sunday meeting about Iran’s nuclear program, but reports had suggested that violence could erupt if that meeting did not go well. Instead, Israel pre-empted the situation with targeted attacks. All morning, I wondered if the situation had escalated.
That particular Saturday, I would not catch up on the state of the conflict until my drive home after the market. I could not check the news because I had forgotten my phone at home.
On the one day I could have used a news update, it was out of reach.
Another vendor said it was good practice to disconnect from time to time. I have heard this advice, but I tend not to worry too much about my cell usage because I’m not scrolling all day.
And because I don’t check it every fifteen minutes, I didn’t think it would be too hard to be in the present, in the place that I was, not off in some virtual space… except for my worry that World War III could be starting.
I put that aside, figuring someone else would be on their phone and let us all know if things got too bad. I decided to enjoy being disconnected.
However, I had planned to double-check a recipe for the next week; a new thing I was trying out for family. No way to look it up. The research would have to wait until I got home.
A woman wanted to buy a book with e-transfer. I was unable to check for the confirmation email. Had to trust her. She did flash the confirmation page at me, so I figured it was fine. (Actually, I’m pretty trusting about e-transfers. Some people only do them from their computers. I let them take the book and do the transfer when they get home. That works out… mostly.)
The market started slowly that day. My neighbour spent quite a while scrolling through emails or some social media. I wondered what she was finding, then told myself I was disconnecting and did not want to know.
I watched the people who passed by, and let my thoughts wander instead of my fingers. Even so, a question popped into my mind that I really wanted to look up the answer to. But I told myself that it would wait.
By the time I got home, I couldn’t remember what I had wanted to check. I guess it wasn’t that important.
Maybe many of the things that I immediately pull out my phone to look up don’t actually warrant the attention I give them. Normally, if I am seriously looking for information, I sit down at the computer. With the larger format, I find it easier to look for sites I trust.
It’s easier to skip the AI-generated answer and find good explanations, too. (For example, with the novel I am working on, I wanted to know what horn-like instruments the Ancient Greeks had. AI informed me that the Greeks were human, like us, and did not have horns on their heads. Definitely a skip-worthy answer.)
That Saturday morning went quite quickly. I wrote the first draft of this column by hand. I missed a phone call and a few messages, but answered them when I got home.
There was nothing that could not wait. I wonder if I should take a phone time-out more often.
Thank you to sponsors of The Owen Sound Current Writers’ Fund, who make these community contributions possible. Contributions from the community do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.
Good idea to do this now and then. Aside: you can avoid the AI generated answers by adding -ai at the end of your search question.