Day 4 : Unplugged
It’s day 4 of my digital declutter and today I want to talk about the value of taking time to be fully disconnected.
Yesterday I wrote about using Do Not Disturb mode on your phone to manage the way you engage with social media and text-based messaging services. Yet sometimes I like to take this idea even one step further and fully unplug.
Of course, like with the incident when needing to download a PDF of the ferry schedule on my phone, these decisions always seem to come back to bite me ;)
For example the other day when walking into town to get dinner, I decided to leave my phone at the apartment and enjoy some time fully disconnected.
As with many things during the time of COVID the universe had other plans. The first challenge we ran into was trying to select a restaurant when none had a physical menu to read but rather a QR code that needed to be scanned on your phone to view the available options. Whammy!
Then once selecting a restaurant there was a wait for a table and we needed to put in our name and phone number so they could text us when our table was ready. Double Whammy!
Eventually we settled on a restaurant where we liked the look of what everyone else was eating and we talked the host into just shouting our name when the table was ready.
Anyway despite these minor setbacks I do still feel there is true value in spending time completely unplugged even if it can lead to minor annoyances here and there. If nothing else it will help you appreciate how much more convenient things can be otherwise.
Nevertheless I’m planning to enjoy as much time disconnected as possible over the beautiful long weekend ahead in the form of low-tech unplugged activities including hiking, running, boating, reading, cooking, and just plain old relaxing on the beach.
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing— I hope you also enjoy your weekend and can find time to completely unplug and relax in whatever way makes you happiest. Enjoy :)
