Digital Detox

Time to go Cold Turkey?

The first time I realised that I might have an addiction to my smart phone was when I literally broke out in a cold sweat upon realising it wasn’t in my bag when I went to meet my friend in Thame last week. 

I didn’t even need the stupid thing.  I didn’t need to use the phone, the camera, the internet or any of the gazillion apps that I have on it.  I was there to meet my friend, eat some lunch and give her my undivided attention.  But then the fear of ‘what if?’ kicks in.  What if I’m late? What if I need to find directions?  What if I need to take a selfie? What if I have an overwhelming need to find out the lyrics to a random 1980’s pop song? 

Nearly all of us are constantly plugged in to something electronic, be it a phone, sat nav, Ipad, Ipod, computer game, laptop or desktop… the list is endless.  

In fact statistics show that the average person checks their phone around 200 times a day, which is 8 times an hour!  And if that weren’t bad enough, 1 in 4 of us apparently spend more time online than asleep!

Is it any wonder that we’re all tired?  Complaining that there arn’t enough hours in the day to do the things we really want to; while our dwindling social skills are seeing a rise in depression and anxiety.  Not really. 

So here’s my solution… it’s time to disconnect so that we can reconnect.  

How about instead of the usual New Years Eve resolutions to cut out fattening foods and alcohol, we try cutting out our digital time instead? Obviously I’m not suggesting that you go cold turkey…there’s enough of that over Christmas already.  But, how about some baby steps?

How To Digitally Detox 

Try phone stacking at the dinner table, where the first person to reach for their phone gets a forfeit. 

Give yourself a gadget time allowance, with a small reward for sticking to it. 

Keep screens out of the bedroom to aid sleep, and phones switched off in the car. 

Tell friends what you’re doing so they can help. 

How brilliant will it be to spend more time living our lives instead of living other people’s lives though a screen.  

That’s my plan anyway…just as soon as I watch this video link of cat’s wearing beards…

See you on the other side!

Sherry x

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