By Mark Alexander
Yesterday I took a 24-hour break from my phone, social media, emails, texts, and news – it felt absolutely amazing.
I know not everyone is lucky enough to be able to disconnect. They may be a key worker on call or have people they need to be available to … but if you can, give it a try. It was very liberating and just thinking about it, is making me smile.
#notanAprilsfool
It showed me:
1. I don’t need to be updated by the news 12 times a day .. it’s stress-inducing, often repetitive and keeps me in a state of underlying anxiety.
2. I started the day watching a 30-minute comedy instead of the news, laughed and actually found myself looking forward to my day of peace, feeling positive in a way I haven’t for ages.
3. I don’t need to connect with the feelings, opinions, updates of 10’s of people every day.. it’s completely unnatural and would have been thought of as weird 30 years ago!
4. I am a slave to my phone. It punctuates everything I do .. It is the worst habit I have .. I can’t even watch a 30-minute documentary without at some point checking my phone.
5. 99% of the time when I check my phone there is nothing on it that actually requires my immediate attention.
6. I was much more ‘present’ noticing the world around me in more detail, without the distraction of the online world. This felt really positive… I actually started reading a book and felt compelled to clear out two cupboards lol
7. My day was really really really really long. I waste huge amounts of time on my phone and suddenly I had extra hours to fill. This felt really odd and novel. Couldn’t wait for my other half to come home though, having spoken to no one all-day 🙂
8. There were moments where it was briefly stressful feeling disconnected, but these lasted a few minutes and turning on my phone this morning I see there was nothing that couldn’t wait 24 hours.
9. In a non-work context, people can wait for my replies – and I can wait for there’s. I need to step back from the need to post/respond/repost and like as fast as I can. An immediate response is rarely any more valid than one that comes hours later.
10. I do need my phone and the internet for work – I took yesterday as a day off, but can’t wait to take a 24 hour holiday again and will do soon.
I know not everyone is lucky enough to be able to disconnect. They may be a key worker on call or have people they need to be available to … but if you can, give it a try. It was very liberating and just thinking about it, is making me smile.
#notanAprilsfool