No Technology Day: The Surprisingly Peaceful Results
Overcoming Tech Addiction: Practical Advice for Taking Back Control
How does your morning look? Is it filled with going through your notifications the first thing in the day, blasting music in the shower on your phone or smart speaker, or playing games on your iPad? No wonder we're constantly stimulated with technology 24/7.
On the last day of my final exams of my 3rd year, I did something that made me feel the most clear-headed I have ever been, and I do it sometimes, but not often enough.
I came home from my final exam, which I thought I did pretty well at, but you know how exams go. I've never really been at the top of the class, so it had been a long week of final exams, and my brain was overwhelmed and pretty much burned out.
I came home and just laid in bed and did what we all love to do when we're done with stuff – opened Instagram and did some mindless scrolling. But it was time to give my brain a break. It had been a long week, and I wanted something chill and calming for my brain to relax.
I played some ocean sounds on my speaker, casting from my phone, and lay there. Maybe five minutes into it, I grabbed my phone, and guess what I was doing? Back on Instagram.
That got me frustrated, so I got out of bed, messaged my friends that I was going to keep my phone off till tomorrow, and turned it off. I didn't just stop there – I unplugged my TV, every smart speaker, monitor, turned off my MacBook, iPad, and finally turned off the Wi-Fi. There was no technology getting power except the fan and the lights.
That's it…
I kept everything in my closet for the night and decided not to look at it until at least tomorrow afternoon.
I went to take a nice shower before bed so as I was getting in the shower I said, "Hey Siri, play my music". No response and I suddenly realized that I unplugged it like 10 minutes ago. LOL
For the rest of the night, I let myself be bored. If I remembered anything I had to do, like email a professor or anything else, I wrote it on a piece of paper.
It was definitely a change of pace for my brain, but eventually, I went to sleep.
I woke up in the morning and reached for my phone, but guess what? It’s in the closet. Again, LOL.
I went about my morning routine of brushing and getting ready for work at 9 AM. I put my phone in the bag, but did not turn it on.
At about 3 PM, when I was leaving work I finally turned on my phone but still kept it on DND.
These 14-16 hours of my life were some of the most peaceful hours I've ever had.
The calmness I gained from not even seeing the red light of my TV that makes me want to turn it on was real.
What should you do after reading this? Go only one night and day without any technology by unplugging everything. Make it hard to get access to these easy, cheap forms of dopamine sources. See how you feel. And if you love it, then do it more often.
I'd love to hear what you have to say about it once you try.
Happy No-Technology Day!
