Can you believe people used to actually not have cellphones when they went out with one another? Or iPads to play around on when lying in bed, waiting to fall asleep. I mean, what did everyone do? What was the world like? How were you ever able to avoid awkward conversations, or talk to your friends? Maybe you should try and find out.
Contrary to popular assumption, you are not going to die if you go without your phone and technology for a few days, let alone a few hours. I guarantee you don’t have an accurate estimate of exactly how much time you are spending in front of screens (yes, scrolling through Twitter and Instagram count).
A lot of the time spent on these apps is completely mindless too. We do it habitually, without even thinking about it or realizing how often we are doing it. Therefore, we don’t even really absorb most of what we are scrolling through and reading.
Here’s what will happen:
- You realize how much you think you “need” it and how dependent on it you actually are
- You realize you are uncomfortable with something to do with your hands
- You realize how many other people are absorbed in their phones
- You learn to be more present, and notice things you haven’t before
- You will be expecting to miss so many texts and calls—only to realize that basically nothing has changed since you last checked it
- You realize that your life continues on, probably even better, even when you aren’t constantly refreshing the apps
- You focus on yourself and more important things, not glimpsing into the lives of other people
Tips on Tech Breaks:
Make it a rule to not check your phone whenever it is charging (I’m pretty sure it hurts the battery anyway). Only check social media at allotted times during the day, and never when you are in the company of someone else. Not only is this rude, but refraining will help you appreciate your time together so much more.
Another way to take a technology time out without abandoning it all together is reserving one day of the week—fine, just half the day—where you don’t use technology whatsoever, including tablets, phones and TVs. Go for a walk. Open a book.
Also, at least once a month go through your phone to delete any apps you no longer use, and unsubscribe to those annoying chain/spam emails.
Finally, consider turning off your text message notifications. I did this months ago and it still is one of the best things I have ever done for myself—majority of text messages you get are not urgent. If they were, the person would call. Therefore you shouldn’t let yourself be continually interrupted throughout the day by mundane texts. This happens a lot more often than you would like to think and prevents you from focusing on one task at a time.
