How I Plan To Do This More
During our recent trip to Mexico, I really focused on disconnecting. We live very busy lives, and have picked a career where we feel the constant need to connect and share. And sometimes you just need a break. It can be very over stimulating. Because I knew we hadn’t planned to do a lot in Mexico, besides enjoy the resort we were staying at, I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to disconnect a bit. We obviously took photos, and vlogged while we were there, but I made a conscious effort to not mindlessly scroll through my phone. I didn’t check my e-mail, I didn’t watch any Instagram stories, and I didn’t check in on Twitter. Any time I found myself reaching for my iPhone, I grabbed my book instead. I read 2.5 books in the 3 days we were there. And I enjoyed it. Sure I missed a few of Chrissy Teigen’s headbands of the day (have you guys been following this? it’s hilarious!) but I was fine with that. The world went on just fine without me constantly feeling engaged. I want to make more of a conscious effort to do this more often. Here are some things I want to try-
Remove notifications
While I do find breaking news alerts helpful, do I really need to know when someone new follows me on Instagram? No, probably not. My phone is constantly beeping at me all day with various notifications and reminders. Having all of this technology to help streamline things is such a blessing and a curse. I want to significantly decrease the number of notifications I get on a daily basis.
Delete social media apps from your phone
This is not something I’ve ever done but I think would be really nice to try every now and then. Maybe it’s a random Sunday I decide is a social media blackout day, and delete everything from my phone for the day. Or maybe for a few days over the holidays so I can really be present with friends and family. This is a hard one because social media is our job and I feel the constant need to share, but at the same time doesn’t everyone deserve a vacation from their job sometimes?
Go take a walk and leave my phone at home
I think this is probably the easiest one for me to do. When I go on walks I already don’t really look at my phone, but I do carry it with me. Mostly to listen to music or a podcast while I’m walking, but it would also be nice to be more present and engaged with my surroundings rather than immersed in whatever is streaming through my headphones.
Travel to places with no cell service/wifi
Believe it or not, despite how much you see us document it, we are actually on our phones much less when we are traveling. If we’re out of the country, we don’t purchase an international phone plan. The only time we are able to connect is when we are in wifi at our hotel, or a lot of restaurants/cafes have free wifi. So times like traveling on a train, where we would typically spend time scrolling through Instagram, we don’t even have that option. Sometimes we travel to places where cell service and wifi don’t exist- like this time we stayed in a teepee or much of our trip to Wyoming earlier this year. I want to do more travel like this.
I’ve heard Instagram is launching a feature that allows you to set limits for how long you want to spend on the app in a day. I’m intrigued. Is this a feature you would utilize? Are you good at disconnecting? What are your tips? Please send them my way!
-Ash