How To Protect Your Phone From Oneida Lake

Over the weekend, I learned first hand what happens when a three year old throws your phone into Oneida Lake. Who wins? The lake.

The Story Of My Lake Bound Phone

Over this last weekend, my wife Sarah and I brought our kids on Sarah's parents new pontoon boat. Sarah's family has been in the boating world forever, and this would be the first ride on a boat big enough to handle our four children, and four adults.

Other than the usual anxiety of dealing with four children under the age of five, the day was going extremely well. The weather was gorgeous, the lake wasn't too windy, and the kids were having a great time in the sun and water. Then, the moment every parent knows hit......boredom/tantrums. My wife and I decided to give our two oldest (Avery who is 4, and Finley who is 3) our phones, to occupy their time for a little bit to calm then down. We were parked out on the water and figured it was a good time to try and calm them down and see if they would nap.

SIDE NOTE- If you're a parent who bashes parents for using phones and tablets with their kids, I don't have time to listen to your discussion. Our children have tablets, no they don't use them 24/7....they play and interact with toys and family all day. When they do have their tablets, they are usually playing educational games and videos.....so before the army of "No screen time" chimes in, my parenting style is different from yours.

Now, after I got that off my chest.....

At one point the boat started moving, and Finley started to get aggravated with what was on the screen. Time slowed down, as he looked over at me, and tossed the phone over the boat. The phone landed in the water and almost skipped across the surface like a flat rock. We stopped the boat quickly and tried to turn it around. In slow motion, you could see the phone floating, than it started to sink. When phones sink in a lake, they sink fast.

At that moment...... I knew I was doomed. This part of the lake was deeper than 15 feet.....the phone didn't have a proper water case on......and it was at this moment I couldn't remember...... if I backed it up recently with all my photos....and by recent, since before Christmas.

My family and I use the Life360 App. This app provides locations to where each member of your circle is. This helps us traveling back and forth from Albany, New Jersey, and beyond. Its a good way to see where people are, if my wife is on the way home from the store, and more. This app is also a great tool to see where in the lake your phone is pinged at.

David Wheeler

Debate raged on. Did my phone die immediately in the water? Or did it's battery drain after staying alive all day? The Life360 App kept providing conflicting data. The only data non conflicting was my phones resting point.