Burning Man is on a different plane of existence from the rest of the known world, so while your cellphone may “work,” it won’t work the way you’re accustomed to.
Those people you’re talking to — do you really know them? Those Instagram shots — who is really looking at them? Are those people on Facebook truly your friends?
At Burning Man, put your phone away and concentrate on the immediate experience and the actual people around you. I suggest turning the phone off when you leave the highway, and turning it back on when you return. Otherwise your results will vary, probably by an order of magnitude or more.
One of the guidelines for Burning Man is immediacy — learn to experience things, not through a camera, but with your eyes and your body. You don’t need to “capture” the experience for people who couldn’t make it. And if you’re only seeing things through a lens you aren’t really experiencing them.
I’ve brought a DSLR. I hang it around my neck and don’t put it down in the dirt. I tend to have a prime 50mm or 35mm lens and leave it on, or clean the camera well before changing lenses. When I’m not using it, I put it in a cloth bag, somewhere it won’t get too hot.
The optimal way, for at least the first year or two you’re there, is not to bring a camera at all. Learn the etiquette of when photos are welcome and when they aren’t. Record your experiences with your eyes and ears and mind.
Whatever you can’t remember, you weren’t present for anyway.