What I Learned from 24 Hours Without Technology

If I could invent a Facebook relationship status for everyone obsessed with their phones, I’d create one that reads, “in a relationship with my phone,” and change my status to that. It’s sad, but very true.

Lately I’ve found myself checking my social media the very moment I get up. In fact, I’ve become addicted to either refreshing my Instagram feed every 10 minutes or opening up YouTube to watch clips of One Tree Hill or any other favourite show of mine. And Disney Plus? Let’s not go there. The point is that I needed to go on a technology break, and I believed it would bring some bad habits to my attention.

On Black Friday, I decided to complete my 24-hour technology break. I would have picked Saturday or Sunday instead, but it would have been torture to work out at the gym without any music or television. I’d rather stuff my face with cupcakes than be on a treadmill for 20 minutes without any entertainment. Plus, I was scheduled to be at work from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, and I knew that Black Friday shoppers would keep me busy at my job with Staples.

Folks, if you choose to do a technology shutdown, do it on a day when you’re exhausted because you’ll probably be too tired to scroll through your social media. I know I was too tired to even care about what I was missing on social media that day. After I got home from work, I was pretty beat after sleeping for five hours the night prior and working Black Friday.

I may have been exhausted, but surprisingly, I didn’t even miss my phone while it was turned off. It was so liberating to not feel the constant urge to check my notifications. It felt great to free up some time to do other tasks instead of texting my friends or scrolling through Instagram.

Sometimes I believe that I’m not as busy as my other friends, which could be one reason why I didn’t feel the need to look at my phone throughout the day. Everyone has different habits, and anyone else could have struggled with taking a break from technology, unlike me. I also don’t need to use my phone at work, so staying away from it was very easy.

I’ve actually started turning my phone off when I’m tempted to scroll through my social media. A lot of my time is wasted scrolling through my feeds, so I’m going to continue turning it off whenever I need to get an important task done. When you need zero distractions, I suggest that you do the same — or at least stay away from social media. You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done without it.

Call me crazy, but I think I’ll take a complete technology break again. I may even do it for 48 hours. May the odds be ever in my favour.