A few months ago, I blogged about my transformational experience at Peace Retreat in Playa Negra, Costa Rica, where I mostly took a digital detox from technology. I did yoga, meditated, and enjoyed a peaceful existence in the jungle. I felt more reconnected with nature, with other people, and even myself. As I mention in the post, during the first few days, it was rough–I felt a constant urge to check email, tweet, Facebook, read news, etc. But then it became a relief. I realized how much I loved the idea of being present and soaking up every precious moment, especially since trips are over in a flash.
I will confess that since their WiFi worked sporadically, I would occasionally hop online in my down time to clear clutter out of my inbox to make my return home less stressful. But I kept it quick and brief. I spent the huge majority of my free time reading books or having in-person conversation with great people. Sometimes I journaled and took notes for blog posts on the computer, but I did it offline.
I felt so recharged from disconnecting from technology that I want to make this the norm for my future travels. I practiced this a bit in Seattle this summer because the Internet where we stayed wasn’t working, and while it was by default and frustrating at first, it became quite nice.
Looking back, I spent time during my trips in Paris, Perugia, and Mykonos in Internet cafes checking up on email and social media. Here I was, in some of the most beautiful and interesting places on the planet, and I made it a priority to spend time playing online. It’s one thing to spend a few minutes sending an email home to let everyone know what you’re up to, but there’s no reason to waste hours on the computer when you can do that at home.
I recently finished reading “Spontaneous Happiness” by Dr. Andrew Weil, a fantastic book that examines what happiness truly is and why depression is an epidemic in America. One recurring theme is that we spend too much time indoors, alone, and connected to technology and news 24/7. Humans are meant to spend a lot of time outdoors and with people. Communicating with people online may trick you into thinking you’re being social, but you’re still isolated. We’re also not meant to be frequently bombarded with stressful news or constantly stimulated by noise from music and TVs. He also discusses the major lift in mood that people experience when they do something good for others and feel gratitude. That explains why my volunteer trip in Mexico was so life-changing for me, and why volunteer travel is so mutually beneficial.
How am I applying this to day-to-day life? My husband is currently attending law school in San Antonio, a city 80 miles south of me. My job lets me work remotely from there two days a week, so I’m usually there with him at the end of the week and through the weekend. He was home for many weeks over the holidays, but since he’s been back there, I’ve found myself spending less and less time online during the weekends.
I used to spend so much of my weekends blogging and working on freelance writing. Since that’s some of my only time with him, I prefer to spend my time away from the phone. We walk the dog, cook healthy meals, read, see friends, watch movies, and just unwind. If he has some studying to do, I’ll do some work online, but not nearly as much as I used to.
Yes, that means I’ve been blogging less. Yes, it means I have more catching up to do during the week. But it’s been wonderful injecting a little digital detoxing into my weekends. I don’t want to spend my weekends connected at the hip to my laptop anymore. I don’t get the same enjoyment out of Twitter that I used to. I want to spend more time in person, recharging, enjoying real life, both during regular day-to-day life and on my trips. I am always shocked when I’m out traveling or doing something fun and see people absorbed on their phones. They find it so important to check in on Facebook and FourSquare, tweet about what they’re doing, or take Instagrams that they’re ironically missing out on what’s really happening. They’re not living in the moment.
I’m not trying to sound preachy. But as I grow older (I just turned 27!), I find that I am getting burned out on spending so much time staring at a computer or phone screen, and getting more gratification from being offline. I want to be present. I of course still plan to keep the blog running. I just wanted to share why I haven’t been blogging quite as frequently, and I wanted to share how awesome it feels to travel without the burden of feeling chained to your computer.
Have you ever taken a digital detox? Do you like to stay connected when you travel or do you prefer to disconnect, too?
