My First "Low/No Tech Day"

Upon hearing about a friend's "no cell phone" family reunion it made me think about how much I rely on my devices to be "connected" to the world and my friends. Sometime ago I enrolled in Debbie Ford's book study called "21 Day Consciousness Cleanse" which requires that you limit your electronic connection to the world. I have yet to complete the study but I intend to during my next hiatus since this one is almost over. Also, in the event that I need to attend the one month intake program with CAMH next summer, I will be required to go one month without the use of any electronics/internet connection. This worried me at the beginning of the summer when I found this out and it was possible that I would need to attend CAMH this summer.

I decided to challenge myself to go 24 hours without accessing any electronics (radio, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Apple TV, etc.). I sometimes have "no TV days" and "no driving days" but this one was new for me. So I did it. Beginning at midnight August 21 I turned off all my electronics and went "Low/No Tech" for 24 hours. Instead of starting every sentence with "I have to admit..." I'm just going to make a list.

I have to admit that:

• Within 5 minutes of shutting off my laptop, iPhone and iPad, I felt some anxiety, which lasted for about half an hour
• Upon waking I felt the same anxiety for a bit
• It was difficult at first but it got easier as the day went on
• I got a lot accomplished without needing to be "connected" to the rest of the world (my landline was still available and my friends could contact me that way if they chose to)
• I did use an iPhone but it wasn't mine and I was trying to help a friend figure out something on her iPhone (was this cheating?)
• I did get distracted by TV at my friend's house even though it was on mute (is THIS cheating?)
• The following day when I was back "online" I got really frustrated with my electronics

This challenge really made me think about how I have become so reliant on technology and how it seems to rule my life. I become obsessed with checking my phone for emails, texts, notifications, etc. What did I miss in those 24 hours? Not a hell of a lot actually. Facebook continued on without me and there were no emergency emails or text that needed to be addressed. I actually enjoyed having 24 hours without access to technology. I have decided to do this once a week - disconnect to reconnect as one of my friends said. And it's true. In order to reconnect with ourselves we must disconnect with other things sometimes.

I challenge you to disconnect for 24 hours. See what it brings out in you. See what you discover within yourself. :)

Namaste