Unplugged

For the first time that I can remember, I totally unplugged from the digital world last week.  7 whole days of digital silence.

As a confession, I believe I am addicted to technology and digital connections.  

In a normal day I find myself checking my phone dozens of times a day.  Checking in with distant friends, work email, social networks, slack, online weather, news feeds, googling the thing I can't remember, etc.   Rinse and repeat.   It's like a permanent part of me, dangling there and taunting me to just look " one more time" because I might have missed something.

In the early days of technology, I remember a family trip to the beach where we rented a lovely beach front condo.  In order to stay connected, I carried a (likely) 25 lb fax machine and connected it in the condo so that I could get updates, mark up documents, and communicate back with the office.  Yep, I had it bad.  I don't believe I am alone in this.  In a recent Time article,  Americans check their cell phones 8 billion times a day. Individually, people look from 34-75 times.   Personally, I believe I exceed those numbers. ( even during trying to write this short post, I've multi-tasked and looked at my email 3x so far.)

This last week wasn't easy.   The first 3-4 days I honestly think I was going through withdrawals.  I spent much of my day looking for what I was missing. Checking my phone that was on airplane mode and receiving nothing new, and mentally thinking I should grab my laptop that was left at home.  This feeling slowly faded, and I believe I became far more aware of the present and proximate, and OK with not knowing about anything else.

What I noticed was that I slept more, and more often.  My family was shocked to see me so relaxed that I would doze at the drop of a hat.   Pool side lounger - snooze.  Comfy chair in the shade - snooze.   In 26 years of marriage my wife has never seen me nap ( unless I had the flu), so me being able to turn my brain off and just relax was a huge deal.  My heart rate reduced and I am sure my blood pressure was lower.

I'm not sure when the next time I will be able to totally un-plug again. Hopefully, the withdrawals will be less, and the rest will be more.