16 Nov My Digital Detox Experience – Katrina
Our Digital Detox Experience testimonial series provide an opportunity for our retreat guests to describe the positive experience they have had logging off. We hope that their stories will inspire you to consider a digital detox of your own. Next up is Katrina. As the youngest on her retreat, she was surprised at how much she connected with those around her. She puts this down to logging off.
“I won’t ever just rest my mind”
Katrina describes how she has got into the habit of “always being online” and “always doing two things at once”. She used the retreat to “throw herself into the deep end” and to see how not using technology at all for a few days would affect her mindset. Katrina describes how she will be watching TV whilst scrolling through Twitter, or on her phone whilst waiting for an appointment, rather than resting her mind. She makes a really important point; that many people aren’t just taking any break from screens. When we should be just relaxing or switching off, overuse of technology is meaning we’re not getting a break.
“It’s been difficult to not use a device – even for a short amount of time”
“I keep on going to check my phone … going to take a picture of a tree and put it on Instagram … but my phone’s not there and I can’t do that.” Despite the struggle Katrina has had, she recognises the positive effect that not having her phone has had; “it’s opened my mind up a lot, you’re able to connect with people that you don’t think you have much in common with. I’ve had the most amazing conversations about really deep things.” This has become a theme throughout the discussions with our retreat guests that we have had so far. Everyone has recognised the depth of connection they have had with others when their main focus wasn’t on their smartphone.
“With social media there is very much an echo chamber”
Katrina describes how with social there is an “echo chamber, where you just follow the people that are like you … that have exactly the same viewpoint as you. It closes your mind. Being in the real world opens your mind.” There’s a huge benefit to being around people from a different background to you, and learning from people that have a different view of life to you and have had different experiences. This sounds obvious, but as Katrina describes, overuse of technology and the way social media recommends news and people with the same interest as you, means increasingly we hear our own opinions reflected back to us. Spending time in the real world helps you escape from the echo chamber and broaden your outlook.
We have retreats coming up in Somerset, Italy and Hawaii. Head over to our retreats page to learn more.
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