24 hours without surfing
Dry January - easy. Gosober October - no problem. 24 hours without surfing the net? I'm a little jittery.
I rely so heavily on the internet for everything. I'm not sure I can remember what I did with myself on Saturday mornings back in the early 00's. I've been online since well before then, but even when I used it regularly in the 00's it didn't seem to pervade my life in the same way.
I'm not going to stop the gmail alerts on my phone, which will pop up at 8, 1 and 4. I may even look at my emails, but I won't follow any links or do any surfing. I'm certainly not ready for something as aggressive as this digital detox app, but baby steps...
I'll see you on the other side!
So, my update. I did go for the full 24 hours without surfing, but opened my browser in the evening to watch Netflix. In the morning, I realised that deciding which apps did/didn't count was more difficult than I'd expected. I decided that Twitter and Instagram were out, but Spotify, my banking app and other applications I use regularly were 'in'. I wanted to look up information about travel and housing, and realised that without the internet I was completely lost. This experiment has really helped me to get some clarity about what I mean/need when I think about a 'digital detox'. Mindful, conscious use of the internet and digital world is important. Mindless, unconscious surfing feels like avoidance or possibly even a numbing behaviour. I think the problem for me is that I start off going online for a clear purpose, but it's so easy to get distracted. If nothing else, this experiment has made me much more conscious of my own approach and behaviours...now I have to figure out if there is anything I want to change...
I did my 10 days detox over New Year but need another one now. It's insiduous!