Last weekend I knocked on my son’s door, and told him I would do the fifteen-minute walk to Subway from our house to get him a sandwich for lunch. I always like to listen to music on my iPhone earbuds when I do this, but my phone was down to about 10% power, so instead I left it charging in the house and braved reality by taking a half hour walk without a device.

It was a beautiful warm early afternoon in March, the Chinese elms in our neighborhood providing plenty of shade. Birds chirped and hopped through the branches and a gentle breeze rustled the leaves. It took a few minutes to get used to them, but natural sounds and my own breath were actually a perfectly pleasant substitute for the usual Brazilian samba or European trip-hop that filled my ears.

As I passed through an empty school parking lot and a short bridge over Ballona Creek, my thoughts began to stray. Suddenly I was back in Western Massachusetts, trudging home from high school through a frozen path in the woods and along slushy suburban streets. The time of that solitaire walk was usually 30 minutes one way, twice as long as the one I was doing now—and I had no smart phone, Sony Walkman, or electronic device of any kind to listen to.

Thoughts of high school girls I knew, or creeps or jocks I didn’t want to know, occasionally filled my head, maybe mixed with visions of a TV show, movie, or sporting event I’d been looking forward to. Most of the days I walked home, though, were normal and somewhat dull. Ninety percent of the time, I walked alone.

So how did I pass the time?

I used my imagination. If I wasn’t devising a scenario for a new little Super 8 movie I wanted to make, I was self-producing imaginary record albums in my head. This would entail quietly singing through a dozen or so of my favorite songs (six on each side of the album, naturally), expertly arranged for maximum artistic impact so I would be seen as the dynamic young rocker I apparently fantasized being. While I walked to Subway the other day, I desperately tried to conjure up the specific songs I sang, but this was many decades ago, and has sadly become a blur. I’m pretty sure “Jet” by Paul McCartney and Wings was in there, maybe a Simon & Garfunkel or Who tune. I do remember that my album rarely changed, and a song had to be pretty special to make the cut and bump another one out.

The important thing is that this was a very enjoyable way to spend idle time. When you are not plugged in electronically, your mind can grow, and dare I say it, experience the world around you for what it is.

For my device-less walk back from Subway last weekend, I thought about Saturday afternoon kid matinees I would attend with my pack of movie friends. Nearly every time while waiting in front of the theater for someone’s mother to pick us up, we would pass the time acting out the supernatural, sci-fi, pirate or Roman slave movie we just watched, everyone choosing a different character. Today we instantly jump back on our phones, no matter our age, to check texts or emails, maybe hit up IMDb to learn about an actor.

I also remembered what happened in a large house I once lived in with three or four others up in Vermont. My friend who owned the house was the news editor of our weekly paper but also a freelance rock critic, and one entire wall of the huge living room consisted of a stereo system and shelves and shelves of record albums. Many of the nights there were a joy, everyone just sitting around talking, drinking beers, smoking, and just listening to music.

Then one day my friend moved out, and the stereo system and shelves and shelves of record albums left too. A television replaced them, and the vibe of the house changed overnight. People would get home from work, grab their dinners and eat in front of the TV, watching whatever was on and barely talking. Petty fights began over cleaning the kitchen and other house duties. Factions developed. It got ugly, and I can’t help thinking it all started when people allowed themselves to be plugged into something other than human contact.

Anyway, back home from Subway, I gave my son his sandwich, and went down the hall to see if my iPhone was charged. It was. I began to unplug it, then decided to leave it there a little longer. Grabbed a good book I’d been reading and went out back to sit with it under a shady tree.