Back To The Real World

I hate not being able to follow news and current affairs, or not being up-to-date with current (and future!) technology. And, for some time, I was actually worried I have already been left behind. I adore my devices and applications, blogs and sites, and I truly enjoy being connected 24/7 with family and friends, business acquaintances and now fellow Squares, and it feels that I somewhat need to know what goes on in the world. I must admit I genuinely hate missing out on anything ‘trending’.

source: uthmag.com

On the other hand, though, I’ve noticed I have started taking onboard some social media ‘habits’ I disliked or made fun of previously, like sharing pictures of my food or immediately posting a video of a concert I was attending… Well, at least I haven’t bullied anyone on social media, and I definitely haven’t ‘checked-in’ anywhere yet – and I’m quite proud of that!

However, for the two previous weekends that I have been travelling abroad, I’ve tried to stay away from my phone and laptop as much as possible (actually, at some point I didn’t even have a choice), I visited family and friends,  and – after a very long time – I met and actually started talking to interesting new people on the street and Christmas markets, on ethnic food stalls and relaxed cafés and (maybe not so) fancy restaurants! And, I must admit, I really enjoyed not being glued to my screen for once.

The best thing was that I didn’t even feel the need to look for a wifi connection – I just enjoyed communicating again like ‘the old days’. No emails, Shazam, Google Maps, Weather updates or eBay (yes, I’m obsessed with eBay!) – I know I might have annoyed a few people that we interact digitally on a daily basis, but I had a lot of fun with many others!

It’s been some time and, therefore, I’m pretty sure that many of you are familiar with the following ‘experiment’ posted on Fast Company; Mother, a London based advertising agency asked five ‘digitals’ to give up their tech gadgets and spend a ‘No Internet Week’:

And here, you can see their progress – Day 03:

At first, after watching all these, I’m still trying to decide whether or not I would feel OK to take part on a similar project; being blocked from all those things that I’m using on a daily basis and actually not being ‘allowed’ to use them when I felt the need to, seems quite strange to me at the moment.

But now, a whole week after my two back-to-back ‘no internet’ experiences, and on this grey, gloomy Monday, all I can I think of is that I wish I would have done the exact same thing last Saturday and Sunday, as well.

What do you think? How easily would you ‘unplug’, and give up your gadgets and social media routine for a few days?