This is my unplugged merit badge field report! I was afraid to go without my phone for 24 hours, I wasn’t sure it was possible. On July 23 I went to my daughter’s house in Garden City, my immediate family was there. I decided to leave my phone in my suitcase and not get it out. At first I kept reaching in my pocket to check for messages, or to take pictures, or to check the weather, so many reasons to get out my phone. I did not. I found out that I was more present in my surroundings and conversations. I noticed the beauty all around me, in nature and in my grandchildren. At night when I went to bed without scrolling on my phone, I felt a sense of peace and fell asleep easier than usual. After the first 24 hours I felt so good that I went without my phone for the whole 5 days and was reluctant to get it out on the way home. I’m a bit sad that I don’t have pictures from those happy days, but I can remember the happy time and still picture it in my memory. I realize how tied to my phone I am, I depend on it for so many things, information, connection, entertainment, education, directions, ideas, and the list goes on, and some of those things are not bad, but I also realize that it stops me from using my brain more, so that’s a bad thing. I have succeeded in cutting back on my phone usage, I try to stay off social media, I try to figure out how to get to an address without help from my phone. Let me just say that I’m trying to be wiser with the way I use my phone now. I’m glad that I did the unplugged challenge and I would do it again!