The pull of the ever-present technology of life is strong. It has woven itself into so many components of my life which is not necessarily a bad thing however it can become overwhelming at times. I recently took a vacation and decided to go almost technology free for the duration of the holiday and a few days before and after my trip. The end result was almost two full weeks of virtually zero technology. I will say that I don't consider my camera to be technology as he is more like a close friend and I would be hard-pressed to go very long without taking a photo of something that catches my eye. Vacations are a little easier to get away from technology as the demands of work and your normal life are not present however the first few days were very difficult.
My main goals were to do nothing work-related, not read a bit of news, stay 100% off all social media and email, and use none of the apps that I use on an almost daily basis. Those apps that show you daily streaks and encourage you to check in every day can be large time sucks. So how did I do?
Work
My expectations of not doing anything work-related over the two weeks were very difficult to meet at first as work often tends to spill into holiday time when I am not careful. This time, I was determined not to allow myself a step back into my work life. My mind kept wandering back to things I want to accomplish when I am home or I would snap a photo and decide that it would make a great addition to a product but I didn't upload, edit, or create anything. The pull was strong but I resisted and after the first three days, it got easier. I ended the two weeks having accomplished zero work. What did I discover? My business survived with no issues or problems and I felt energized. I was ready and anxious to return feeling more creative than ever. I dove right in to create new products that Zazzle is now offering such as this all over print apron which I might not have ordinarily taken the time to investigate before the break.
News
Staying off news sites and not reading headlines is typically easy for me as the news is so negative that I often question why I start my day with the news in the first place. I really didn't access the internet, Google, or social media so my exposure to the news was very limited and I had no issues from the very beginning of the two week break. What did I discover? I admit that I was a little nervous since the last time I took a news break was in early March and I came home to a very different world than when I left due to COVID. This time, however, the world still cranked on without me aware of the tiny day by day details of negativity. I am typically a very positive person but my positivity and living in the moment became like second nature without the pull of the world at large and the happenings that I have no control over.
Social Media and Email
Social media was probably the hardest thing to break from as I like to see what my friends and family are doing on a personal level and for my business, I have many "friends" who I have never met who capture amazing images of nature and create beautiful products. It was probably a week into the break that I honestly stopped thinking about everyone else and concentrated fully on the people who were right by my side. My use of social media is overall positive for me which I know is not the case for everyone. Email is typically filled with plenty of junk and a handful of inbox messages that are important for the day so that was less of a pull for me. What did I discover? Unbelievably everyone survived without me. A few Twitter friends who I never met and live halfway across the world reached out to see if I was alright which was really nice to come back to. Most of my close friends knew that I would be taking a break so nobody was really worried. They lived their lives and I was busy living mine in the moment. As far as email, I discovered just how much junk I receive and totaled around 800 emails over a two week period just waiting for my return.
Daily Apps
My daily apps allow me to learn something new and expand my mind as I strive to be well rounded and keep my life interesting. I have been learning Danish on Duolingo for several years and enjoy the process of learning something new each day. There is nothing wrong with these apps but they can take a large amount of time. They are more habit for me as I hit the app on my phone almost without thinking about what I am doing. Learning a language is a worthy goal but not one that I need to take time to do on vacation. One app leads to another in my daily rounds and it just becomes a part of my life without much thought. What did I discover? This was difficult to break not because my desire to use them was so strong but because they are such a habit that the button would be tapped without thinking. I caught myself every time but it took probably three or four days to stop automatically hitting the app button. And guess what...the app was right there waiting for me when I returned.
I ended up using my phone to text my parents and make sure they were doing well and to let them know that we were safe. This totaled probably less than five minutes a day. I watched about two or three hours of television over the two weeks mostly because there was a channel that my family was interested in that we don't get at home. It was a group activity and one that built memories which is always the goal of any vacation. Overall it was a fantastic experience and I ended up living in the moment, enjoying the smell of the air, the laughter of my family, and creating memories. I came back ready to dive back in and with the exception of a few forgotten passwords, it is almost like I never left.
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