Break From Technology Occasionally – Make Life Better

Have you ever imagined living without your phone? For most of us the phone has become yet another part of our bodies, like our extended limb without which it is hard to imagine life. But what if I tell you, that I discovered that a break from technology occasionally, can make life better.

Here is my experience.

My phone stopped working a month ago. It happened gradually. I started seeing random lines on the screen, sometimes horizontal ,sometimes vertical…than all I could in a week’s time was a blank display.

My phone still received calls, but I could not see who was calling me, could not attend because my touch screen was not working.

I was part of ten different groups on whatsapp but could not read a single message. No facebook, no twitter, no netflix, no amazon prime and finally NO CANDY CRUSH SAGA. Now I played this game for God knows how many days. I’m at a 5000+ level.

Can’t remember the exact number! To my credit, in all these years of owning a smart phone, I never played any other game other than this one!! Naturally I reached 5000 when none of my friends could.

Whenever I had free time, it was either movies or crushing candies. Not that I had a lots of free time. I used to watch a two hour movie for three or four days in between work during a normal week. I never really took a break from technology.

Binge – No break from technology

On a binge week (Yes! I had those too!) I lost count of the number of movies I watched. This was especially bad when I was watching Korean dramas. Series like Crash Landing On You, The King were the ultimate nightmare of my family because all I did then was work and movies.

No conversation with any living being for prolonged periods of time.

Awkward postures – sprawled on the bed to watch my phone.

Lost sense of time.

Was behind in my work schedule. (Normally I’m a very organised person!)

This went on for sometime until that day when I accidentally took a break from technology.

One fine day, my phone decided enough was enough. It started giving me blurry warnings with most of the functions not working correctly. Then it just went blank.

Just like I used to feel before any of the important examinations. Just Blank!

This is my story of how I survived without my phone – an accidental digital detox.

Week by Week

Week #1

I fidgeted a lot constantly reaching out for my phone and staring at the blank screen. I kept trying a variety of gimmicks like changing the angles, restarting, switching the phone off and on multiple times, charging to check if it would light up the home screen (shock treatment!), and mostly doing random things to somehow bring my phone back to normalcy.

Then came the FOMO(Fear of missing out) an important factor for not taking a break from technology. I did not know what I was missing and felt a lot frustrated than I would care to admit.

This went on for about a week, me trying different things and the phone responding with the same answer.

Week #2

I did what any other sane person would do – asked my family to share their their phone so that I could watch some movies. Until then I seriously did not realise how uncomfortable it was sharing another person’s phone. We each had our own phone and did not even need to share our passwords. Suddenly there was this password issue.

But looking at my frustrated and sad face, they agreed to share. So again I started watching movies on the phone. I checked my facebook feed using the desktop, completely lost track of my other channels. After a while, I felt even more frustrated, when the time I wanted to watch something was the time the owner of the phone decided to do something on their phone. I had to wait for my chance. This on and off experience frustrated me even more than a clean break from technology.

Week #3

I had had enough at this point. I decided I’m not going to ask anybody for their phones unless it is something urgent!! REALLY URGENT! I did not give my phone to be fixed because now I was curious about how long I could go like this! Believe me, not thinking about the phone was incredibly difficult.

Nevertheless I persisted. To occupy my time, I started looking at other alternatives. I was already learning Kathak. (Read: How I came across Kathak). So I decided to spend more time on it.

Then my attention shifted to Yoga. I brushed up on my previous knowledge once again (Now I had ample time on my hands). I formally trained in yoga through out my school days. When I did the surya namaskar (the sun salutation) and other simple asanas, I could still hear the voices of my yoga trainers from school. It was nothing less of a shock! I had never this deeply been present in a moment before. Yoga can make you aware of every passing moment, every inhale and every exhale.

When I had my phone, I was always doing three or four things at once. Multi-tasking was second nature to me. I had to juggle a lot of responsibilities.

But once the phone was missing in action, I suddenly had lots of time to spend. And I spent it wisely.

Week #4

Even during my binge watching days I rarely binge watched beyond midnight. I knew sleep was important, but never went to bed before midnight, always fiddling with some app on the phone. There were just millions of distractions on the phone and midnight seemed like a decent hour to draw the line. For me, sleeping at midnight was normal.

When there was a break from technology, post dinner times seemed pretty empty. I could not cosy up on the couch with the phone. For a while I did not know what to do. I looked around and everybody in the family were hooked to their phones oblivious to my presence.

Was I like this too?

Time to Read

To kill time, I browsed through my library to read something. Being an avid reader, my library was well-stocked with fiction, non- fiction, kids books, biographies and auto-biographies.

Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ caught my eye! It was a book I wanted to read for a long time but had never really gotten around to it.

I started reading the book. Everyday I spent for about an hour after dinner, reading, thinking about the book and some of the characters that touched me genuinely. The writing was very honest and I slowly progressed. At the same time, it made me realize how I had simply traded my interest in books and so many other things for my complicated phone.

Week #5

After reading, I started going to bed early. There was nothing else to keep me engaged (no spoilers, teasers, tweets or friend requests). Initially it was a struggle. I could not fall asleep. I kept lying down and thinking about totally random things till my eyes became heavy with sleep. It was extremely frustrating. This break from technology created a lot of initial challenges.

I come from a long line of night owls who are struggle to wake up early to this day! Of course we wake up and send our kids to school and attend to our different work schedules, some of us even exercise in the morning, all clouded by a dull start because the sleep did not completely wear off. As for me, my day started well into the morning, when my body seemed to realize that dawn has broken.

I used to be hyper active at evenings, my best time of the day. All the ground- breaking ideas and innovations burst on to the paper and computer at that time only.

Now I’m going to tell you, how without even trying to change my cycle seriously I started waking up much earlier than what I was used to.

So no phone meant early sleep and that meant early wake up. I started waking up much earlier. To my own surprise I started feeling fresh too!

Morning Hours

Now not wanting to waste my precious morning hours, I sincerely started my yoga practices. After all these years, I finally understood how to take a moment for myself. I felt calm and centred after my yoga sessions. High energy and a positive attitude were a bonus. The morning sounds all felt new. I had been too groggy in the past to actually realize how beautiful mornings could be.

All this because my phone did not work. Have you heard about ‘THE RIPPLE EFFECT’? This is what it is!

Around this time, I also read up on digital detox and how its importance is still relatively unknown to many. It got me thinking.

Week #6

I got mails from my son’s school about how online classes were going to start shortly and that they had created new whatsapp groups to cover the same. I still had no idea which group they were talking about!

I asked them to include my husband’s number in their list so that we would not miss any important message from the school. I was wondering now.

Should I get my phone fixed?

Would I go back to the older lifestyle if I got it fixed?

I was not so sure. Meanwhile my son’s classes started on my husband’s mobile. It was only for a couple of hours everyday and my husband did not seem perturbed by it. So I let it continue.

As of now, my phone is still partially asleep.

What the break taught me

My accidental digital -detox was something of an eye-opener. When you survive without something, that is the instant you realize how dependent you were on that thing in the first place. Many times it happens even without your own knowledge or admission.

So here are some things I learnt along the way

• The phone consumes a lot of time…An AWFUL lot!
• My sleep and meal schedules were better.
• Mindfulness is a real concept guys!
• It was easier to wake up early ( I did it finally!)
• I managed to give some time to most of my interests – Kathak, Yoga, Playing with the kids (not crushing candies this time!)
• My work schedules were smooth and I still had plenty of time left.
• I trained myself to be calm and alert. (Shifu alert!!)
• Above all, I feel happy and accomplished.

Tomorrow even if I get my phone fixed, I’m planning to consciously maintain my balance. Having discovered a new dimension in this hustle and bustle I want to make the effort to sustain this happy place!

Read: Easy tips to keep kids away from phones

Did u have any near-insane experience like me?

How dependent are you on your smart phone?

Have you ever taken a break from technology. How did you cope?