This post was inspired by an interview I heard yesterday on NPR. I can’t find a link to it but there’s been plenty of research about the science and befit of unplugging. Certain college professors are challenging their students to hand in their cell phones and not check email or social media for a week and even some news broadcasters have taken the challenge (for news assignments or while on vacation). All these devices are meant to make our lives easier, not to make us slaves to them. Here are a few of the benefits of the practice, on a daily, weekly or monthly (just do it sometime!) basis. Some ideas to help Unplug for wellness…

• Give your brain a rest.
• Give your eyes a rest.
• Extra time, and who couldn’t use a bit of that!
• More productivity (less continuous distractions).
• More relaxed (De-stress).
• Better focus.
• My personal favorite~MORE CREATIVITY~ideas begin to flow more freely!

I do not personally have a smart phone (in 2012 no but now, yes!).  I joke with friends and family that I have a stupid phone but secretly I’m glad to be able to have an excuse not to check social media even more frequently. There is a recent trend (2017) for phone manufactures making older models that don’t have as many “connections” (think flip phones and blackberries). It’s bad enough that society has now made it acceptable for individuals to expect to be able to reach one another instantly.

I have a pet peve; when I’m hanging out with friends or family and they instantly stop having a conversation with the people they are with to respond to someone elses text or call!  I get that sometimes your expecting a call or need to respond to something urgent, if you do, please excuse yourself, otherwise chatting over the people you are with is pretty RUDE!  Relating to the people you are with should come first, respond to others who are not physically present at a more appropriate time if possible. We need to give people our attention and be fully present, if only for a portion of our time together. If you really need to answer or respond, politely excuse yourself and return to the conversation after you are done. This goes for business situations as well as personal ones and if your company doesn’t have a policy of turning your ringers off in meetings maybe you should make it your personal policy and suggest it to co-workers. I’m not even going to mention laws about talking on the phone or texting while driving…Just. Don’t!  Okay, rant’s over…sorry!

I sometimes forget to my phone with me and there have been a few times that this mistake caused others quite a bit of worry which I am truly sorry for but just 10 years ago if someone left to run errands and it took longer than expected people didn’t rush to the worst case scenario just because they couldn’t reach them instantly.  We need to learn to trust one another’s boundaries and give people more space!

• Here are some of the ways I personally practice being unplugged for my own wellness.
• I try to go without news/media at least 3 days a week, that goes for radio, TV and internet.
• I try to go without my computer (checking email and social media) at least one day a week.
• I don’t use my phone every day for texts or calls. Some-days it can wait!  Just ask friends or family who might have tried to reach me:)
• My cell phone is not in my bedroom at night, I have a separate battery powered (to minimize EMF’s) alarm clock.
• No texting while driving and because I lived in a state that talking on the phone was illegal without a hands free device, I’ve adopted that habit to.

Do you unplug?  If so to what extreme, daily, weekly, part or totally unplugged?  If not, maybe you should give it a try for a day…you may love it!