14 Dec 12 digital detox blogs of Christmas #6
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 …
The Parent Game
The digital detox challenge takes on a a new contender. The Parent Game is a blog run by experienced parent Lucy, with occasional posts from her husband.
Lucy understands the complexity of doing a digital detox in a digitally-reliant world. “Mobile phones and electronic devices have become a way of life for many people and are so embedded in most of our lives that we are barely aware we are even using them at all.” Time To Log Off knows all too well the ubiquity of the digital world.
She can see the invisible problem that most of the modern world faces, but was she able to stand victorious over her own devices? ” I did hit one or two little snags to begin with, the biggest one being that I hadn’t realised, when I agreed to the task, that the 25th of November was a Friday, a work day for me.” And although it was one of her busier days, Lucy managed to prevail and put family and the detox first. 
” I can see advantages to a phone like this, particularly if you have a stressful job and need to switch off from having access to your emails and other work-related media.”
We included a phone from Punkt in the challenge pack we sent Lucy which is perfect for digital detox “The phone we were sent, was a Punkt MP01 which is very modern and contemporary to look at, but does nothing, other than the essentials of making calls and texting.” The phone helps set limits that define your time online while still being contactable, and it helped Lucy concentrate on other things.
Spending time with the family and not putting up a blog post was something Lucy rediscovered as a possibility “As a blogger, I use social media a lot, but, sometimes, I really enjoy taking my children places and not blogging about it.” While spending time offline Lucy resisted the urge of blogging about her experience with her children and just experienced the moment.
“It’s surprising how many times I reach for my phone without even thinking, so this would put a stop to that.”
For her first attempt Lucy did struggle a bit, but got there in the end. “As a trial run, the exercise went pretty well. There were some aspects that didn’t compare too well to Christmas; such as the working day and the fact that I was the only one not using my devices, so it got a bit lonely at times.” She showed great determination for this challenge despite the odds!
“I’m sure, if we were all device-free when Christmas comes, it would be a very different experience for all of us.”
“I’m sure, if we were all device-free when Christmas comes, it would be a very different experience for all of us.” Although we can’t go back to the days (and wouldn’t want to) where we weren’t surrounded by digital devices, on Christmas Day at least, we hope that Lucy has inspired you to try focusing on family instead.
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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