Digital Downtime? I’m not a religious person so I have no sabbath, but I do think that humans have evolved to need a certain amount of rest and reboot. We are not made to go 24/7/365. We require a certain amount of space to have bigger thoughts, do bigger projects, cultivate bigger ideas. I struggle with wanting to be connected all the time… because we can be. If I want to know the primary fish eaten in Bosnia, I can look that up. Right now. If I want to research what films Tom Hanks has been and if there has been any crossover with his son I can do that. I can satisfy any whim I might have. Which is great, but I get lost in it. I just keep going after whim after whim.
Even worse. Yes, there is a worse. I want to be connected constantly because I want validation, approval for my work, my ideas, me. It’s embarrassing to admit. That constant neediness. I do something kind of cool. I post on Instagram about it. Then I check to see if anyone liked it. EMBARRASSING. And such a time suck.
It’s like I’m a little kid waiting for my dad’s, teacher, friends approval for everything that I do. Oh gosh, I am so embarrassed by this.
What I know though is that we just haven’t developed good boundaries and relationships with our devices and the ability to get that constant approval/check in. We are just babies in the digital landscape. In 100 years they will look back at this time as the infancy of our time with constant connection. See. I can totally justify my incessant need to be connected.
#Confession: I may just be a little addicted to social media. Can you say me too?
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The OTHER reason I stay connected all the time is because I don’t want to face where I am at that given moment. This is even MORE embarrassing as someone who has been meditating for over 20 years – which is the SOLE practice of being present where you are. Sigh. I don’t want to talk to my husband, the people in the room, I’m waiting and don’t want to just wait… whatever the experience. I use my phone to go outside of where I am.
What the hell do you do about this?
Digital Downtime – The Experiment
I am committing to a month of taking time off of my devices from Saturday at Sunset to Sunday at Sunset. That’s it. Nothing fancy. Just less social media, really. A space of 24 hours to fill with things that are right in front of me.
What that will look like? no social media on any of my devices, no googling, no email, no games, no initiating a text or phone call. I can use my devices to write, draw, listen to music, read, answer the phone or respond to a text. I can write here, on my blog and post it, but I can’t check to see if anyone read it. Write, post and move along. I can also use my phone to take photos or video, but not to post them. That’s the scope of what I’ve considered so far.
What will I do? I have no freaking idea. I do know that I will take notes about how it feels and what I intend to do and will report back on Mondays about how it went.
Why do this? Beyond the embarrassing things above – I want to experience time without checking in. I want to tackle projects that aren’t online. I want to figure out how to spend my time by flexing my creativity. I also want to be present – even when I don’t want to be. That feeling of being uncomfortable will pass or I will learn to work through it, but only if I allow it to happen. If I do the quick fix of picking up my device I won’t ever know what it felt like to be with myself and the people around me.
The idea of a digital sabbatical isn’t a new one, but I haven’t ever committed to doing it with intention. Let the experiment begin and let’s see what happens on the other side.
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