13 Dec 12 digital detox blogs of Christmas #5
Our Presence Not Presents campaign challenged twelve bloggers to put down their phones for two days pre-Christmas, to experience logging-off and focusing on family and friends. We hope that their stories about their experiences will inspire you to consider a digital detox of your own. Next up in the series is …
Mumzilla
It’s fair to say that all of our bloggers so far have found the challenge difficult, but have all got something out of it by the end. Well these are the exact feelings that Mumzilla a.k.a Sarah had about the challenge before she went into it; “I’m really not sure how I managed to get myself roped into this one – a digital detox with Time To Log Off and a Punkt phone, texts and calls only – no 4G!” but… “This is part of “The Presence Not The Presents” Christmas campaign, which really resonated with me..”
“The amount of time I spend on my phone is a concern to me.”
Really, Sarah is the perfect fit for this challenge, because of the reliance that she has on her phone; “The amount of time I spend on my phone is a concern to me. because her I find I can’t do anything focused anymore, I have to be on that blasted thing at the same time.” Hopefully spending even just two days away from her phone would help her focus on one thing without “scrolling around and around in a vicious cycle”.
“So… digital detox… how did it go?”
Knowing how much Sarah relies on her phone, you would think she would have more support from her friends! ” I inform my friends that I am doing a smartphone detox. They laugh.” But when she spent time with her friends, Sarah benefitted from the digital detox; “I’m quite self-conscious and I often use looking at my phone as a way to switch off and recalibrate myself, but I realise a lot of people would think I was rude and it was good for me to be exposed for a while.” Sarah used her phone as a distraction mechanism, but clearly it’s sometimes good not to have this option.
“No noise, no distractions. It was blissful.”
Despite being engrossed by “the social media era that has wrapped us all in a bubble of constant chat”, Sarah’s highlight of the challenge was when she sat down to read a chapter of her book, with “no noise, no distractions. I’d forgotten the very specific pleasure of doing something I enjoy without interruption.” So many people find this sort of bliss when they move away from digital; it’s a resounding message from guests at our retreats.
Even if you think a digital detox retreat might be too much for you, why not give our Christmas digital detox challenge a go? It’s two days offline and it’s the perfect time to be focusing on family and friends.
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