Your heart skips a beat, and you can’t believe what’s happening. Your life will never be the same, but there’s nothing you can do but watch the action, powerless to do anything.

You just dropped your phone.

Phones get smarter while we get busier, which means these little gadgets are more and more indispensable every day. That’s why it’s so unfortunate that a short fall or a little bit of water can send so many phones to that great big Apple Store in the sky.

There are two common ways that people break their phones as they go about their day: accidentally getting it wet or dropping it. When these things happen there is very little time to react, and even the most careful person can’t avoid a slip of the hand or a bit of water forever. So, what can you do to protect yourself from these inevitable mishaps?

Deana McDonagh, associate professor in industrial design, said that if your phone gets wet, it is important to dry it out to prevent further damage. However, not all methods of drying are helpful.

“Never place it in direct heat; don’t put it by a heater or in front of a hair dryer,” she said.

One method that students often use is to let the phone sit in a bed of rice, which is meant to absorb the water. Sarah Unger, freshman in Business, said she has experienced several phone related tragedies in her lifetime. After one of those incidents, she tried the rice method. She said that afterwards, she was able to make calls but not send text messages.

“It was a temporary fix … I was able to call people until I could get it completely fixed,” she said.

McDonagh said that this could be an effective way to dry out your phone.

“Anything that will absorb moisture at a steady rate is good,” she said.

McDonagh also said that letting your phone dry out at room temperature could be beneficial.

Kiana Banks, freshman in Business, tried this solution after dropping her phone in the snow last winter, but she did not have much luck.

“We didn’t have rice at the time, I tried to dry it and leave it turned off for a day and turn it back on again but it didn’t work,” she said.

McDonagh noted that most consumer attempts to fix a cellphone will not be consistently successful.

“(Cellphones) aren’t designed for us to interfere with them … it’s a design fault,” she explained.

Due to this design fault, McDonagh said it’s important that you don’t try to pry into the inner workings of your phone. She said to avoid anything beyond taking the battery out.

There aren’t any similar quick fixes for a dropped phone. McDonagh said that, in the case of a long fall, whether or not a phone survives mostly comes down to luck. However, there are a number of precautions that can be taken to minimize the damage.

The most important thing is to invest in a sturdy cell phone case. Budget-conscious students will be relieved to know that there are cost effective ways to do this.

“You could bundle your phone in rubber bands,” McDonagh said. “I think the more creative you can be the better.”

Even after you’ve invested in a case or a bag of rubber bands, it’s still discomforting to know that you have so little control over the phone after you drop it. Just remember that it is not necessarily a death sentence.

At least one of Unger’s phone catastrophes has a happy ending. After watching a White Sox game at U.S Cellular Field, Unger was standing near the railing at the 500 level — the highest point in the park. Her phone then proceeded to fall out of her pocket, all the way down to the sidewalk several hundred feet below.

“Luckily it didn’t hurt anyone,” she said.

Unger raced out of The Cell in hopes that she would save her cell. Against all odds, it survived the fall with just a few scratches.

It may not be wise to make such fragile devices so central to our everyday lives, but it doesn’t look like that reality is going to change anytime soon. At this point, the best you can do is arm yourself with a bag of rice, a case and hope for some luck.