I Have NO SERVICE: I MIGHT Have a Panic Attack

On a scale of 1-10 – how bad is your anxiety when your internet-accessing phone isn’t getting service?  I was just at Coachella this past weekend and in hindsight it’s rather humorous how much time I spent flicking, hitting, removing my battery, shaking, violently pressing buttons, screaming at my blackberry every time it presented me with that cute little blue box: Network Service FAIL (when I tried to Tweet), aggressive RED X (when I tried to text/email) or service SOS (when I tried to call).

What I learned at Coachella was this: When your cell phone is SOS-ing at you, you know your signal has hit rock bottom – there will be no communicating, there will be no connecting; you have been 110% cut off.

I spend considerable time garnering my identity via work and personal relations in a digital space that relies on a “signal”; so, when that signal is out of service, is part of “me” out of service, too?  If I can’t access the internet and deal with the comings and goings of my eLife, am I – in a sense – slightly dismembered?

I tend to believe: yes, in a digital age – not being able to get signal is definitely crippling. We have so tightly woven ourselves into the web of inter-intranets that our physical self is no longer removable from our digital identity.  Our “real” self and “digital” self have ceased existing as separate entities, but rather: they are completely fluid.

So, when we talk about signal-less induced anxiety, I think its root is directly related to the inter-spacial fluidity of our “selves” (which is, in fact – just a “self”).  If you can’t access a part of your “self”, you’re going to freak out…a little/a lot.

And such was Coachella.

I trust that there is definitely a camp that would quickly come back with a retort chiding everyone who admits to this anxiety I’m talking about with a version of “why can’t you just relax and enjoy the moment/people you’re with.”  And yes, there is obviously a truth to this; but I’m wondering whether or not telling people to get over their signal-less anxieties can, at this point, only be considered a nostalgic sentiment – and moreover: completely shortsighted.