Yesterday, I challenged myself to unplug from digital devices for 24 hours – to join others in the 24 Hours Unplugged Challenge. 
I failed. Miserably. And? I’m totally OK with that.
It started with decent intentions. I pondered the challenge in a Facebook thread, which prompted others to get on board and for me to make a deal with Gini Dietrich, and that’s when I decided I better try to take it seriously.
By the end of the day on Friday, I already knew I’d be going in to the challenge with the full intention of checking email at least once (big client deliverable due in the morning) but, I thought I’d give it a solid try. As I stared at the clock from bed on Sunday morning and saw 7:45 a.m., my first thought was – “Oh yeah…that challenge starts in 15 minutes. I better go sync my reader on my iPad so I can catch up on blog reading tonight while I’m disconnected.” (Also…”I’m going to pretend the kids curled up in my bed watching cartoons via DVR doesn’t count.”)
I started my day…and almost immediately, was challenged by the notion of being digitally disconnected. Our Sunday morning routine includes cranking some classic rock while we make breakfast (OK…so no Pandora, satellite radio, or even pulling songs from our cloud) followed by sitting down with coffee and iPad to go online to read some news, take a look at local happenings, and pull together a grocery list.
All righty, then. As I sat with my coffee, alone and disconnected, I started to think about what I was going to prep for dinner, which then reminded me that I saved the recipe for the beet salad I planed to make in Evernote. Three strikes and it wasn’t even 9 a.m.
Then, my husband announces he’s going to spend the morning connecting the new Ooma system we purchased to set up our voice over IP. I just laughed. “So…once this gets set up, I’ll be using a digitally connected device just to make a stinkin’ phone call?”And then, my husband, the one who of all people I would have thought would have welcomed and pushed me to take this unplugged challenge, made me see the light…“We LIVE in a digitally-connected world!”
At the same time, my five-year-old reminded me that I had promised to load his new mp3 player with music from our servers, which further reminded me that I also needed to check to see when his doctor appointment was this week (online calendar) and register him for fall activities (online).
In that moment, I decided to give up on this challenge.
We live in a world in which technology and “being connected” aids productivity, organization, and communication. It gives us faster and more convenient access to news, information, retail and entertainment and more. To turn it off completely has become difficult at best, and, almost seems as ridiculous as say, deciding I’m going to opt out of zippers for a day. It’s our responsibility as humans to define where we need boundaries to separate our digital and physical worlds, just as much as we need to define where they will intersect. Like any good thing, too much, or too little, and it becomes less enjoyable.
Too much is too much, I get it. But still, we all need to use a zipper pretty much every day.
Well, I failed too. Because of the very same reasons. I did stay off of Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. But I still played Words with Friends, read some blog posts, prepped the week’s meals with my Food Network app, listened to Spotify, and emailed with my mom. I also had to get today’s blog posts ready or I wouldn’t have been able to ride this morning. And, I decided that riding this morning was way more important than giving up an hour of my unplugged weekend.
That said, I also read the first of The Hunger Games and half of the second book. This morning I actually had to say to myself, “You have to work. Then you can read.”
Ha! I don’t think we’re alone. That’s just the thing…sure, step away from the UBER connections, but really, shutting it all down would have meant for one unproductive Sunday, and one heck of an annoying Monday. (Like you, I kinda stayed off social networks most of the day, and I didn’t even check in on Foursquare when I went to the grocery store. 🙂
Oh crap. I totally checked in on Foursquare. Well, this was a big fat fail.
lol…well, we can be failures together. 🙂
Great post Kary! I love this and bookmarked it for the next time I try and “unplug.” I’m with both you and Gini…I played Words with Friends, checked my Twitter, Google Reader, e-mail…complete fail! But I did sleep in until 10am almost everyday of my recent staycation so I feel pretty good about that!
I think this post sums up nicely why we shouldn’t feel guilty by our connectiveness. I have to admit that, while I don’t have the same commitment as a lot of folks do to their technology, there are definitely those apps/sites/bits of software that I use daily to organize myself and my life. That’s why these apps were made, right?
We’ve transitioned ourselves from paper to iPad, so to speak. I think there’s a time and place to disconnect from the uber-social aspects of technology, the ones we opt into to keep up with friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and even people we hardly talk to anymore. But the rest? Those things we’ve integrated into our lives to improve them? I think it’s okay to keep those around, especially if those things actually free up time for you to spend with your family and friends in the real world. 🙂
Hear, hear, lady! Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Probably also worth noting that if it wasn’t for my connectedness to digital devices, I wouldn’t know either of these fine ladies who have dropped by to comment.
Who cares if we failed? We did it together!
Ohhhh good point!
I’m pretty much on board with what you’ve got to say here. As you know, I participated in the “experiment” (even took it a step further and took the whole weekend off), and I actually enjoyed the solitude of it.
That said, it wasn’t possible for me to cut out everything. Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, sure. Those things are easy enough. But what about texting? Instructions were to do none of that, but for me, that’s better than a phone call; far less intrusive. What about the Internet as a whole? Like you, I love to cook, and I turn to my favorite websites to provide me with interesting recipes to prepare for my friends and family.
My boyfriend and I wanted to go to a movie. How were we to get information without going online to find showtimes?
I think that many of us ARE hyper-connected and that we would be well-served to set the smartphones down every so often. However, these technologies are how we communicate with friends and loved ones. Instead of letters and phone calls, it’s texts and Facebook posts or tweets.
I enjoyed the quiet that my weekend of social celibacy provided, but I don’t know that it’s necessary to do it again. I like my digitally connected world.
Exactamundo, my friend!
Sure, there are the dusty old cookbooks from the 80s that I keep above the stove and there are these places where you can by newspapers to find movie listings, but WHY? Seems silly.
Knowing when it’s important to take a break and exercise social celibacy (LOVE THAT) is important. Disconnecting entirely? Well, that’s just not life as we know it anymore.
Sleeping in on a staycation is a feat unto itself! Good for you. And yes, feel free to refer to this discussion the next time you think of unplugging. Give yourself permission to do what you need to do. Many thanks for stopping by.