Ok so... this is my official comment now :P
First of... WOW.
That's a sad wow. A 'wtf' wow. Like... ok, I'm addicted to my phone too but really now? If I could I would use the message app with 5% to text people I know and love not strangers!
The Era of mIRC died many years ago...or that's what I thought. Seriously, wtf...
Now though, to answer to your questions...
When/If my phone dies my 'death' depends on how much I need it the moment it happens. If I'm lost for example and I have the GPS on and it dies on me and I'm at a foreign country/city, at night, with no people around I will definitely freak out, yes. Otherwise, when I see I'm running low I let 'my people' know so if it dies, I'm in the clear.
Now... the online world in general... To me, being offline (if and when I manage, even for a little bit) when I choose it, it's liberation. When I don't choose it myself, for example I'm camping in the mountains and have no signal, then yes, I feel pain. Not death, but definitely pain...
Last question/answer : As I said before, never strangers above loved ones. I mean...what's the point? Just to talk? I'd rather talk to myself then, yes, like the crazy witch old lady of the village...
I hope my input together with other people's will help to get some conclusions on this new way of being...
Cheers @techslut and thanks for that - maybe it's a wake up call to make shit like this stop...