5 Reasons to Unplug
“so many people treat life as a constant status update. It’s as if they’re more concerned with how their lives look than how their lives feel.”
Things have changed so much in the past 25 years. With addition of smart phones, texting, News, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and all of the other applications we use every day it is very challenging to look away from our technology. It is even more challenging to power our technology off for a specific period of time and focus on things that we can’t find in technology. That being said I believe powering off for a finite period of time on a weekly basis can improve our lives.
We have all heard the many benefits of taking a break from technology. Some of those include; a reduction in the amount of envy, jealousy and loneliness we feel looking at other people’s lives and the myriad of bad news on line. Other benefits include; better sleep, less anxiety, increased joy/happiness, being more present, time to focus on ourselves and others who are important to us and an opportunity to see the world around us as opposed to the world within our technology.
I am not suggesting we abandon our technology for days at a time. I am simply suggesting we take 60-90 minutes each week and focus on things that can’t be found in technology. I recommend intentionally time blocking this 60-90 minute period in your week when you are the least busy. For me that is Friday in the late afternoon.
Here are Five Benefits of Turning Technology Off (for a little while);
1. Reflection: Taking intentional time to sit down in a peaceful place and think and write about our lives. This requires a pad and a pen and nothing else.
a. What are the most important personal accounts (people and things) in our lives?
b. An honest assessment of where we are with each “account.”
c. A 1, 3, 5 and 10 year vision of where we want each “account” to be.
d. Specific action plans on how to move each “account” from where we are now to where we envision them to be.
2. Hobby: I drive a race car (Pro Formula Mazda) for a hobby. During the time I am preparing for my next driving session of the day and while I am in the race car racing my phone is tucked away nowhere near me. I don’t want to be distracted by email, texts or calls. I want to ignore the technology and focus on what I need to do to be as fast as I can be on the race track. I highly recommend everyone find an obsession/hobby that would need 100% attention/focus. This will enable us to escape the technology for a bit of time.
3. Family: How about we as a family agree to turn off our phones for a short period each day while we are together. Sit around the dinner table or the family room and discuss the following;
a. What was the best part of your day?
b. What was the worst part of your day?
c. What was the funniest part of your day?
d. What was the saddest part of your day?
e. What are you looking forward to this week?
4. Business planning:
a. What are the most important business accounts (people and things) in our lives?
b. An honest assessment of where we are with each “account.”
c. A 1, 3, 5 and 10 year vision of where we want each “account” to be.
d. Specific action plans on how to move each “account” from where we are now to where we envision them to be.
5. Be in the now with the people and things you enjoy: What if we were at lunch and I opened the Los Angeles times and started reading it during our lunch. Isn’t this the same as looking at our phones during our time together? What if when we have a meeting (business or personal) that we agree to turn our technology off and focus 100% on one another There will be plenty of time to respond to emails, texts and calls after our time together is concluded.
“Sometimes we need to disconnect in order to reconnect with what matters.”