Why I Unplug Every Sunday
Technology has become very dominated in our lives for some people they are totally hooked with being available and online a lot of the time. A typical adult spends an average of 25 hours online each week. Whilst nearly half of these (42%) say that they go online or check apps more than ten times a day, the research also showed. Smartphone owners check their smartphones an average of 150 times every single day and one in ten people accessed the internet in excess of 50 times a day, a study discovered. There are clear benefits of a digital detox. For starters, people who have tried it have reported feeling happier and stress-free.
So I started to think about what I could gain from switching off my entire tech for a whole day every Sunday. At first thought about all the things that I would miss out on. Not being in touch with friends, do not know what is going on in the world to not being engaged in social media. How would I cope and say someone really needed to get in touch with me? What would I do with my time? How could I plan this so I felt fine with being offline?
When I tried this out on one Sunday I made a plan that I kept which included.
Switch off all digital devices
Put them out of sight to remove the temptation to log on
Spend time with friends and family
Or engage in interests and hobbies that you have – that doesn’t involve the internet!
The day before I had planned out a range of activities that I was going to do this included a hike with a group of local people, so I ensured I knew the start time and meeting point. Meeting up with my family in the afternoon and in the evening I had planned to relax with a good book which I had wanted to read for a while.
Overall the whole experience made me really enjoy being totally out of touch for the day. I was able to be fully present with the people I spent time with and enjoyed face to face conversations without having to check me a phone at any time. It gave me some breathing space and time to think about my own insights about the world around me and made feel totally refreshed. I was really amazed at how revitalised and happier I felt from completely being away from both a computer screen and my smartphone for a whole day.
I then started to plan this into my schedule every Sunday. In fact, I really started to look forward to switching off Sunday for the following week. It does help if you have other activities planned for the day that is offline. Plus you let other people know that you will unavailable on Sunday. Of course, you can go straight back online first thing Monday morning; you will feel revitalised and raring to go.
Originally published at misssimpleliving.com