Bring on the Digital Apocalypse

I would give up my superfast internet for you.*

*For the weekend.

This card was originally given to my husband and me as a tongue in cheek nod to our love of all things digital. We’re early adopters. I work in marketing and he’s a web designer. The internet is part and parcel of our daily lives.

The thing is, since I’ve been learning about ‘mindfulness’ and being smart busy, not crazy busy, I would give up my superfast internet for the weekend. Both for you, and for myself.

In the first Smart Busy session, Jane got everyone to share their most destructive behavior by putting it on a sticky note. I drew a little television. Sitting in front of the TV is the thing that gets in the way of me achieving my dreams. (A few people drew little wine glasses on their notes, which on reflection I should have done also, but for the purposes of this post I’m sticking with the TV).

Screens. They’re evil. TV. Compter. Phone. Internet. Texting. Social Media. People choose them as an easy option for entertainment. They’re the default activity for when we want to alleviate boredom.

Then we get sucked in. One episode turns into two. One quick check through Facebook turns into an hour scrolling down the screen. We watch TV until we go to bed, then we get out our phones and spend another hour on Pinterest, or YouTube.

Don’t get me wrong, these things have their place. Technology is a wonderful thing. Moderation is the key. And therein lays the problem.

We’re addicts. We’re looking for that quick fix. We’re not even aware of the extent of our addiction, and we’re definitely not aware of how it affects our daily lives and our relationships with others.

Have you heard of this thing called melatonin? It helps you sleep. Looking at screen prevents the production of melatonin in your body. Do you have trouble sleeping? How long is the gap between you looking at a screen and going to sleep?

Ever wake up on a Monday and feel like your weekend was wasted? Think about how much time you spent ‘screen sucked’. Were you looking at your phone instead of the kids playing at the park? Did you get stuck in front of the TV instead of trying this new recipe?

Do you always feel like there’s not enough time in the day? The reality is that you don’t make enough time to do the things you want to do in a day.

So, going back to my original point, I would totally give up the internet for a weekend. If you feel that’s too much, how about one day?

I did it. I decided to call it a “Post-Apocalyptic Role Play Day”, although it’s more commonly known as a Digital Sabbath, or an Old Fashioned Day. Mine has a bit more of a ring to it though, doesn’t it?

For one day, I pretended that everyone had been eaten by zombies and the world had imploded. There was no TV, no internet and no phones. I wrote a list of what I wanted to get done and I rolled with it.

If I was posting status updates, here’s what you missed from my digi-free day:

11.24am, Facebook:
“Wow. Just went to Spotlight and got fabric and ribbon both pre-cut so I didn’t have to stand in line for some appalling customer service!”

12.03pm, Twitter:
“I’m doing it, suckers! #digitalsabbath #internetfreeday #winning”

1.46pm, Instagram:
* Photo of my lunch. “Made the most amazing bean salad. Yummers!”

4.13pm, Instagram:
*Photo of my amazing DIY project captioned “Nailed it!”

So, really nothing I couldn’t have told you on Monday, right? And I might not have gotten all of it done if I’d gotten screen sucked into watching ‘Revolution’ and regretting my choice.

In fact, the only person that it really bothered was my sister. She resorted to texting my husband.