ast week on Straight and Curly, Kelly and I challenged our listeners to go for 48 hours without the internet.
Well, it was more like me dragging Kelly kicking and screaming into the challenge with a few of our brave listeners. I’ve been internet free for 48 hours before, while camping or travelling, but I’ve never done it on purpose and by choice. Last weekend I did it using only my will power and here’s what I learnt.
1. I’m not as addicted to the internet as I thought I was
In typical Type A/FOMO fashion I tend to say yes and worry about the consequences later and that was certainly true of this challenge. I spent all week being super cocky about it and then I freaked out half an hour before internet off time and stuffed my virtual face on all the glories of the internet before I logged off for the weekend. That was the hardest part, the last half hour leading into the cut off and then I was totally fine. I turned my phone and computer off and kept them off all weekend – I didn’t even touch them and when I went out of the house, I left my phone at home. I honestly didn’t even think about reaching for my phone. It was bizarre.
2. When I don’t have the internet, I read books. Veraciously.
I read two books over the weekend and it was incredible. I haven’t done that since I was a teenager and it made me sad that scrolling through Facebook every 20 minutes has pretty much stolen that hour or two of reading I used to do every day of my life until the internet became a thing. I’m definitely going to spend less time on the net and more time reading after this challenge. Reading is awesome and the internet definitely doesn’t count as reading.
3. Our generation is really weird
It got to be 9pm on Sunday and I was officially ‘allowed’ to look at the internet but I didn’t really want to. I was enjoying my internet free weekend. My only hesitation was that I like to make sure I’ve gone through emails, checked blog stats, proof read Monday’s post etc before bed on Sunday. I outsourced my decision to Mr Smaggle’s family as we were staying at the family farm over the weekend. I asked if I should look at the internet now or wait until Monday morning. Mr Smaggle’s grandmother turned around and said ‘What do you want the internet for at this hour?’ – she was dead right. I didn’t really need to do anything, I just wanted to check it because I could and that was just baffling to grandma. I couldn’t even give her a good reason why I wanted to log back on again. It was weird, I’m weird. The whole dot com generation is really weird. I was sitting in a room full of people yet I wanted to talk to other people. Major dickhead realisation moment right there.
4. I missed absolutely nothing while I was internet free. Not one thing.
So I ‘checked’ the internet at 9pm on Sunday because I could and I didn’t miss a damn thing. Not one thing. I was actually disappointed. For two reasons – I was disappointed that nothing had happened and disappointed that I gave in unnecessarily. So after 48 hours internet free, my return to the internet was very unsatisfying.
5. I want to do it again and again
After the weekend off, I felt clear and relaxed. I never feel that top notch on a Sunday because I’m a bit of worrier but I felt amazing on Sunday. I also slept really well and woke up easily and early on Monday morning which I almost never do.
Did you try the Digital Detox? How did you do? Do you think you could do it? Want to join in next time?
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12 Comments
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I didn’t do it last weekend, but it’s a regular thing for me. I think because I work online, going offline is the only true way I know to down tools. It’s a really good habit to get into. x
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It really is – I do it regularly too because I go screen free at 9pm most nights and screen free when I go camping. It’s so funny how many people were totally freaked out at the mere suggestions of being without their phone. 🙂
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I did it halfway but a lot for me. I let myself text cos I did have something to organise I hadn’t planned but I’m not usually a big texter (normally use fb messenger instead lol) so that wasn’t bad for me. Instead, i charged my phone in the kitchen so i couldn’t be tempted to check it first thing in the morning. Weird thing was when i was watching tv Saturday i had my phone with me cos i was expecting a text and i kept automatically picking up my phone to check FB before i realised I’d moved my app off my front screen and turned my internet off. It just showed me just how habitual and addictive it is. It is ridiculous that i can’t watch a movie without also being on my tablet or my phone meaning i always miss half the show. Absolutely ridiculous and it is not peaceful or relaxing at all. It was pretty easy to not use the internet for the rest of the weekend cos i had a friend over and we went out all dsy Sunday so I wasn’t bored but it was still very freeing 🙂
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Isn’t that scary when you realise how you can’t make it through a show without looking at your phone? I think that was the worst thing for me. I also loved how much I wanted to call people – and I literally never want to do that!
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I did a semi-detox…. No FB or Twitter (my only social media platforms), no Solitaire or other games and no mindless ‘googling’! Will definitely be doing it again- made room in my life for many other things!!
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How awesome is the extra time you get back? It’s so exciting!
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LOL – love point number three. We are weird.
Definitely in for next time!
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It’s so worth it. I want to do it again this weekend – I think it be really different doing it in my own house though.
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I only saw the detox half hour before you started so I didn’t join in but I’m definitely going to give it a go this weekend (and try to rope my husband into joining me – a whole weekend without checking football scores!)
I honestly think a large portion of our internet time is spent out of habit rather than with an actual purpose.
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Exactly! I think that’s the first step in actually giving the detox a go is realising what a large percentage of time on the internet is wasted doing nothing.
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I definitely need to do this. I have a love/hate relationship with fb. I would be off it altogether but I have set up my own business and have a business page so can’t disconnect unfortunately. Will willingly do an Internet detox though. It is liberating (how sad is that!)
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[…] Turn the damn things off and get outside, read a book or talk to three-dimensional people. Why not try going without the internet for 48 hours? Now is the perfect […]
[…] Turn the damn things off and get outside, read a book or talk to three-dimensional people. Why not try going without the internet for 48 hours? Now is the perfect […]
