# Why Is My Phone About to Die?

Source: https://www.theminimalists.com/die/
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2024-06-12
Author: Joshua Fields Millburn

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I am seated in a rocking chair at Dayton International Airport, flight delayed, thumbing through tweets, photos, and various bits of miscellanea on the device in my palm while I wait to find out whether my next flight will be canceled. Everyone around me seems to be doing the same thing. We are a sea of people lost in the mesmerizing glow of our screens—alone together.

Suddenly, an ominous red bar interrupts my handheld activities, accompanied by a warning: *low battery*.

My first reaction: frustration, irritation, annoyance. Why the hell is my phone about to die? I can’t believe this stupid freaking thing!

Of course, I have been pacifying myself for the last hour (or two), frantically fiddling with the touchscreen, hopping from icon to icon, searching for the next ephemeral rush of dopamine. My behavior: reactionary and impulsive and the opposite of [mindful](https://theminimalists.com/dan). These activities, when done in excess, are as meaningless as [channel surfing](https://www.theminimalists.com/surfing/), resulting in an endless amount of low-level anxiety—a sort of postmodern itch, not unlike that of a heroin addict as he stumbles through withdrawal.

But it’s not my phone’s fault, it’s mine: rarely does the blame belong to the material thing itself. The stuff is not the problem—we are.

Realizing this, I set down the phone and breathe in the world around me, but only after sending one final tweet:

> If your phone is constantly “about to die,” then maybe it’s not the phone that has a problem.

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