Plugging In and Bugging Out

As a person who just got an iPhone 6 months ago, I am a little late to the smartphone party. Full disclosure: the only reason I got it was because I thought I had lost my trusty flip phone in a cab and had been told by Verizon that they didn't make my phone and battery anymore. Now that I have one, I cannot imagine going back to my dinosaur days sans email/Internet/app access. I would probably be lost in another cab if I didn't have GPS on my phone.

The one regret I have with my iPhone is that I am now perpetually plugged in. I check and recheck my bag before I leave the house to make sure that my phone is with me. I have stopped taking the Metro paper from the friendly guy outside my subway stop because I'll be getting my news from Twitter. I research restaurants on Yelp for the weekend, check flight deals on my lunch break, and text and email while walking. I don't even use my digital camera anymore because I have the camera in my phone. And my phone charger is the first item on my packing list when I go away on a trip. Panic levels escalate if I don't have my phone.

These panic levels may have something to do with the fact that I feel perpetually overwhelmed by the amount of information at my disposal, and the added task that I have to sift and synthesize all of it.