Dear Future World Racers,
I remember as I was preparing to leave for the WR, one of the biggest discussions amongst my squad was who’s bringing an iPhone and should we?
If you haven’t been to training camp yet, then you will soon be finding out that the WR does not encourage you to bring your iPhone and for a lot of great reasons! Here’s a blog that Seth Barnes, the founder of the WR, wrote about it. He has a lot of good points about why it might not be a good idea for you to bring your iPhone.
http://www.sethbarnes.com/post/should-we-ban-smart-phones-on-the-world-race
Ultimately, the decision is yours. What I struggled with in the process of making my decision was feeling like I didn’t know what the benefits were to bringing your iPhone. So I thought I would share some of the reasons why I have loved having my iPhone on the Race. Also, you’ll see within the reasons several apps that have been extremely beneficial, so I recommend you download them before you leave!
- You will still need to create boundaries with your phone when you return home, so why not begin those good habits on the Race?
- CityMaps2Go – An application that allows you to download a map of a major city for use offline. Extremely helpful for finding your way around or back home!
- Podcasts – Listening to sermons on the Race becomes a common past time activity and/or way to spend time with the Lord. It’s really nice to be able to just do this on your phone when you have a long ride to ministry rather than bringing your laptop.
- Airdrop – A feature on your iPhone that gives you the ability to share photos without wifi or data. Extremely handy, sometimes even for sharing flight information!
- Camera – I personally brought only a goPro and my iPhone for a camera and wouldn’t do it any other way. But if you are wanting to bring a DSLR, you will find that you won’t always want to carry it around and will appreciate having a small, more discreet camera on hand.
- Staying Connected – Now there is definitely self-control that needs to be exercised here, but staying connected with those you love back home can be really beautiful. This doesn’t have to be a year that you leave them in the dust. I believe there is a balance between being completely present on this Race and still loving and letting those back home join in on the experience. I have found that those back home are in some ways my biggest ministry this year. So I have loved spontaneously finding wifi and having my iPhone on me and being able to send them a quick note of encouragement.
- Music – Whether it is for your personal worship time or to just drown out the loud music on the chicken bus, you’ll be thankful to have a transportable music device. Yes bringing a Nano is an option, but I’ve liked just having to carry around one device for my camera and music.
- Spotify – This can be downloaded on several devices, so it’s not exactly a defense for bringing an iPhone and more of a recommendation. Download Spotify and pay for a membership. You won’t regret it! Spotify allows you to download as much music as you want offline and you will really appreciate it half way through the Race when you are tired of all the music you own.
- NikeTraining – One of my personal favorite apps. NikeTraining allows you to download all of their workouts for use offline and is similar to doing a workout video.
- Note Taking – You’d be surprise how often you just need to take a few notes down, whether it is a reminder or an entire blog that you suddenly find inspiration for while you are out and about. I have also loved having my iPhone to be able to keep track of all my treasurer stuff. I am easily able to keep track of money by recording it quickly in my phone.
- Calculator – When you live off of $3 a day some months, you’ll be very thankful for a calculator to keep track of what your groceries are adding up to.
- Google Sheets – As a treasurer, I have appreciated being able to download our monthly budget and have the access to view it any time I need to.
- Uber – Yes Uber is global now. It’s not in all countries by any means, but in the few that we did have it, we found that it was the cheaper and safer form of transportation. Having an iPhone gave us the opportunity to use it as our main form of transportation.
- SpanishDict – If you have a Spanish speaking country on your route, download this app. It has been so handy to be able to quickly look up a word while I am trying to teach in Spanish or figure out which packet at the supermarket is garlic salt.
- Another reason why I have appreciated having my iPhone and not just my laptop is that is draws less attention in a public place. Sometimes where you go to post your blog or send an email to leadership isn’t the safest place to pull out a laptop.
- Lastly, this one gets a lot of arguments against it, but it is really nice to almost always have a device on you when you stumble upon wifi. It doesn’t mean you have to or should use it every time you find wifi, but sometimes you are waiting on a big email or need to download team C&Cs and you will really appreciate that you can do it in the moment and not wait and go out a separate time with your laptop.
The objective of this blog is not to say ‘hey bring your iPhone and be on it all of the time on the Race’. I really do hope if you bring it that it will not be a distraction for you and that you can exercise control. If you feel like it would take away from your experience, then leave it at home, but if you think it won’t, then bring it! Having an iPhone with me has been extremely useful and I personally wouldn’t do it any different.
