I spent the rest of the preshow finding the other Cavemen and giving them all their phones back. Everyone pretty much had the same reaction as Becca and Jackie: pure joy. Probably the best reaction was Eliza’s, who squealed, jumped for joy, turned on her phone, took a selfie, and posted it online, all in about three seconds.
“I’ve missed you so much!” she cooed to her phone, petting it like a puppy.
The last people I returned phones to were Jake and Hannah. I found them sitting in the auditorium, talking to each other and holding hands, waiting for the show to start.
I watched them let go of each other’s hands, take their phones and turn them on—Jake had a bunch of texts come in, probably all from his mom. Then I watched them each stare at their phones for a few minutes. Finally I sat down next to them.
“Can I ask you guys something?”
They looked up from their phones and waited.
“Three minutes ago, you were talking and holding hands. Then the minute I gave you your phones back, you started ignoring each other and kind of went into your own worlds.” I stopped for a second, trying to figure out how to put it. “Isn’t that the whole reason we gave up our phones in the first place?”
Hannah put her phone in her backpack.
“We gave up our phones for a week because it seemed like an interesting thing to try, and we wanted to see if we could do it,” she said. “And we did. But I would never give it up, like, forever.” She looked at Jake. “And you don’t have to worry about us. We communicate just fine.”
Jake was answering a text, though, and didn’t even hear her.