Breaking the Technology Habit
  • | October 5, 2016
It’s easy to get lost in technology these days. We live in an increasingly digital world with our phones, tablets, televisions, and even our wristwatches keeping us connected to the internet.

With work, family, and friends all wanting a piece of our time and the availability and convenience of the internet, it’s difficult to truly getaway. However, it’s important to spend some time unplugging and reconnecting with our loved ones and even ourselves. Here are some tips for breaking the technology habit.

  1. Designate A Quiet Time:  If possible, designate a few hours in the morning or evening as a technology free time where you don’t check email or surf the web or even go on your phone. Turn your phone on do not disturb and spend some quiet time alone or with family.

  2. Eliminate Unneeded Notifications:  Every app, every email, every Facebook post. Do you really need to be that plugged in? Go through your notifications on your laptop, tablet, and smartphone and decide what notifications you really need. Emails from work? Yes. Another photo of your sister’s cat uploaded to Facebook? Probably not. You’ll save minutes each day which can turn into hours each week.

  3. Reconnect with the great outdoors:  Spend some time camping, fishing, or just walking outdoors without any technological tether. Leave the phone at home and get outside for a bit. Not only will you unplug and reconnect with nature, you’ll get some exercise as well. The emails can wait, nature’s out there.

  4. Start wearing a real watch:  Not a smartwatch, a real watch. If you can get in the habit of looking at your wrist for the time instead of pulling your phone out, you can eliminate the urge to check emails or social media several times throughout the day.

  5. Set limits with friends and coworkers:  You may be reachable 24/7 but that doesn’t mean you need to be available 24/7. If your work thinks that they can call you at 6am or 10pm they will. Unless you’re a doctor or in some other line of work where you need to be constantly on-call, they can wait. Break others of the habit of always reaching out to you and you can help break your own habit as well.

  6. Rediscover books:  Not Kindle books or eBooks but real, paper books. Spend some time each week reading instead of surfing the web or checking email. The experience will be more fulfilling and you may learn something as well.

Breaking the technology habit is difficult to do and in today’s world it may not be feasible to completely sever ties. It’s important to not get too lost in the digital world and to remember to reconnect with the things and people in your life that really matter. The emails and social media posts can wait for a bit.

Good luck.