As I was getting out of a cab in Chicago two weeks ago, I realized that my pocket was a little lighter than usual. I left my phone sitting on the back seat of the cab and only realized it as the cabbie sped away.

It was a great phone. The Samsung i500. Small, clamshell, Palm OS, telescopic stylus. It was fantastic. I checked it several times an hour. I was attached to it - and it to me. We were one and the same.

At first, I felt really naked without it. Then I worried about all of my data just exposed for anybody to plow through. Fortunately, I had the phone locked down. So the best someone could do is zap-it and start from scratch.

The next couple of hours were absolute hell. Scenarios ran through my mind that drove me insane. Emergencies, clients needing immediate assistance, etc.

Fortunately, after a couple of beers, losing my phone didn’t seem as important. I slept really well that night, too. And my trip back to Baltimore was a lot less stressful.

Being connected all the time was running my life.

I found refuge in the idea that I was unreachable. That people would just have to leave a message. As for being able to call someone, well, that would have to wait as well.

It took five days before my replacement phone arrived. I got so much more done in those five days that I would have in two weeks. It turns out the ten seconds here and there used to check my phone added up to gross inefficiencies. I am not really sure why. Maybe getting off track thinking about it, checking the phone, responding if needed, and then getting back to what I was doing really got in the way of my flow.

Anyway, the replacement phone is a large shoe-like-phone Treo 650. I am not terribly excited about it, but because it is so big, I don’t take it with me everywhere I go. In the end, I don’t feel as free as I did when I had no phone, but some of the freedom I am experiencing now is partially due to the size of my phone and partially because I proved to myself that I was not as important as I thought I was. Being more efficient is great too.

I think everyone should lose their phones for five days.