The Digital Detox Diaries
Well, my New Year’s Digital Detox Week is a wrap. Did you join me? How did your week go??
Here’s how my week went…
Digital Detox Eve: 7:30pm, I deleted all of my social media apps 🤢 and disconnected my Gmail, Yahoo, and work email. I started getting the shakes immediately, so I drank half a bottle of gin to calm my nerves. …kidding. I drank a mug of tea, read a book, and went to bed early.
Day 1: Today was a travel day to visit my family (car, plane, plane, car…14 hours door to door to get from the middle-of-nowhere to the middle-of-nowhere), so I didn’t miss my absent apps too much. I did discover that I tried to check my email approximately 15 times throughout the day (and met the set up screen each time since everything was disconnected). I don’t know who I’m so concerned with emailing me. I’m well aware that I’m not that important. Maybe remnant PTSD from my corporate days of yore.
Day 2: I went to a real life coffee shop today. There was a cute mug with a cute saying on it for sale. It’s killing me that I can’t post all of the cuteness on social media. How will people know there are cute mugs in this world if they don’t see it in my IG stories? Better get the gin again. Kidding…again…
There, now you can see the adorably cute mug and the world can keep spinning.
Day 3: I took a winter walk through the forest with my 6-year-old niece (she likes hanging out with me, unlike my own kids). I left my phone in the house since I’m working on being more present this week. It was a sweet walk. We sat on snowy stumps and I shook the snow off of the pine trees while she stood underneath and yelled “It’s snowing!!!”. There were lots of giggles and smiles. I don’t have any pictures, except the ones in my mind. But sometimes that’s better.
Day 4: I finished a book today! Frontier Follies by my favorite, Ree Drummond. I am the self-proclaimed world’s slowest reader, because I read in my head like whatever I’m reading is the most epic monologue ever spoken. Believe me, it’s beautiful and theatrical in my head, but also makes reading books very slow. Apparently I’m a much faster reader when Facebook isn’t lurking around the corner, so I finished this book in less than a week. Good to know.
Day 5: Yesterday was New Year’s Eve and I had so much free time on my hands without Gmail or IG, that I had time to turn all the clocks 1 hour ahead so our kids would think they stayed up until midnight by the time it was 11pm. I snuck back into the kids’ room at 11:33pm after they were asleep to change the clock back, but all the clicking of the clock woke up the older one. I told her I was just checking to make sure her clock was working. (I know. That’s a dumb, dirty lie, but I panicked.) I didn’t want to start off the new year as a terrible mother, but here we are.
Day 6: I got into a tiff with a close family member today. Normally, I would distract and numb my feelings with scrolling social media endlessly to stare at other people’s lives so I don’t have to address my own. (Please don’t tell me I’m the only person in the world who does this.) But I didn’t have social media today, so I had to feel all my feelings. Ugh. I cried. And then I took a walk…and cried. And came back home…and cried. But then I took a nap, texted my besties, and felt better. There might have been a tiny bit of gin this time.
Day 7: I finished another book today! The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown. It was so good, but now I’m questioning the accuracy of my beloved title of Slowest Reader in the World. I might, simply, have a distraction and time management problem. And I never did break my habit of hitting my email icon fifteen times a day. Yikes.
Digital Detox Wrap-Up: It was a good week with less digital distraction that didn’t disappoint (it never does). I try to do a full wee of digital detox once or twice a year, but admittedly, I don’t remember the last time I’ve done one. In this particular week though, I thought I would miss social media more than I did. Shockingly, I almost didn’t crave it at all, except for the dreaded mug incident. I’m not sure what that means yet. I’ll ponder that for the next couple weeks as I reenter the social media world.
By far, my biggest and most sobering (figuratively, not literally…) realization was how much time I gave back to my life during my detox week. My iPhone “screentime” tracker told me that the week before my detox, I spent about 24 hours (a little more than 3 hours a day) on my phone. During the week of the detox, that time was cut in half to 12 hours during the week (I still spent time on my phone texting with friends, listening to podcasts, and searching for recipes).
The takeaway is that without social media and email, I got back almost an entire waking day in my week. Did you catch that?
An entire waking day.
While it’s not a reason to throw social media out the window (I do still find much value in it when used wisely), if I ever feel pressed for time, I know exactly where to find it.
So what about you? How did you enjoy your detox week?
Comment below and let me know. Or, of course, you can find me on social media 😉
