"Creativity is contagious, pass it on." ~Albert Einstein

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

My Adventure into Digital Detoxification

I really wasn't planning on unplugging during our vacation.  It just happened.  Last week, the Badura colony ventured down to St. Petersburg, Florida for a little vacation before the ole Brain Factory cranks back up in a couple of weeks.  I would consider myself a fairly (if not too much) "connected" educator.  I enjoy using Twitter to connect, learn and share with educators from all over the world.  I love taking pictures, so Instagram became one of my favorite new apps.   I even created a hashtag (#colonyb) to catalog and recall our family adventures.  At times my devices (laptop, iPad, iPhone, iPad mini) seem like an extra appendage to me.

So while on the plane to Florida, I made the decision that I was going to ENJOY my vacation WITHOUT my extra appendages. Scary, I know! It seemed pretty plausible.  After all, I have been on vacations in the "PreDevice Era."  I started slow.  I wasn't going to check my phone after breakfast.  I chose to avoid seeing all of the great ideas/conversations being shared on Twitter.  I resisted the temptation to check my email.  I wasn't going to take a bunch of pictures and share them via Twitter and Instagram (I confess, I did share six total because the Gulf sunsets were just breathtaking).   I didn't engage with my devices and man did it ever feel good!

Yes, I  missed some great photo opportunities and great articles by leaving my phone in the room, but you know what?  I survived! I turned into an observer instead of a producer and consumer.  I did notice that a majority of people on the beach chose to remain connected.  Checking emails, chatting on the phone, posting to Facebook, taking selfies for Instagram and even "nocializing." All while oblivious to the beauty that surrounded them.

Yes, I did check my device periodically, but I limited it to two times a day at first.  After a couple of days I didn't even turn my phone on until the evening as I wanted to capture some of the amazing sunsets on the Gulf of Mexico.

Don't get me wrong.  I love being connected.  Being connected is a major part of my job.   But I think it would be good for us all to do a little Digital Detox every now and then.  Shut off your phone when you get home.  Leave the laptop in your bag until your kids are in bed.  That email can wait until tomorrow morning. Yes, that article you read was really good, but it's okay not to share it.

That's all.  My adventure into Digital Detox.  Try it sometime.  You just might enjoy it.




1 comment:

  1. Great advice. We're headed down to the coast next week and I'm definitely going to try and digital detox.

    ReplyDelete

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