Written by Natasha Lawrence
Do you keep your phone by your bed at night? Do you feel disconnected from the world if your battery dies? Do you experience serious FOMO during your Instagram scrolls? Then we believe you are in need of a digital detox.
High off my recent Sugar Detox, I decided it was time to try another detox. This time, I wouldn’t be withholding any foods, but instead, I would be unplugging from the digital world. A tough feat for a woman who runs a fashion and lifestyle website. Not only that, but I find that almost 80% of my fashion news comes from sources like Twitter or Instagram…meaning most of my sources are digital. The week of my digital detox was interesting to say the least.
Monday – Day One
If I were to tell you I didn’t have a slight panic attack when I turned my phone off on Sunday night, I would be lying. My usual morning routine consists of opening my eyes, checking the time, and then reaching for my iPhone. With it off and stowed half-way across the room, I instead checked the time and then headed to the bathroom.
Luckily for me, this Monday was a holiday in Ontario (Family Day), so I had the day off at home. Sticking to the “family” theme, I visited grandparents and hung out with my sister. All with my iPhone on silent, and stashed in the bottom of my bag.
Tuesday – Day Two
Only once I was at my desk on Tuesday, did I open my e-mails (thankfully nothing urgent), and head to my daily websites to catch up on fashion news. From there, I went on to the likes of BBCWorld to learn about any news I may have missed from my morning Twitter scroll.
Monday’s are fast paced at TS HQ, and this Tuesday ended up being our defact-o Monday. Luckily once my morning was on a roll, there was really no time to check in with my phone until the evening, when I allotted myself 30min to check up on social media. My thumb did start cramping on my endless Instagram scroll.
Wednesday – Day Three
It’s kind of crazy how disconnected from the world I began to feel from not constantly checking on social media. As a woman in my mid-twenties, I always scoff at younger generations dependancy on their phones, yet here I was, feeling as though I had completely gone off the grid. Thankfully, I was the only one in the TS office on this digital detox, so I was able to get my “fix” from talking to other members of the team.
Thursday – Day Four
It does feel nice to get into the elevator and actually have a conversation with the woman I ride down with everyday. She never has her phone out, yet I am always checking e-mails on the ride to our parking garage. She’s actually really nice.
Friday – Day Five
Today, I’m a little bit panicked for two reasons. One, some new movies are in theatres this weekend, and I normally depend on Vulture’s tweets to tell me what I should and shouldn’t see. Two, the Oscar’s are this weekend…What is all this talk I hear about Meryl and Karl?
Saturday – Day Six
One good thing about disconnecting, is that I am completely unaware of what Mr. Trump is tweeting. I feel like I’m not as angry as I have been since he was elected. But, alas, the BBC keeps me posted on what havoc he is wreaking.
Sunday – Day Seven
Have I really made it seven days with only an allowance of 30minutes of social media time? And my fashion and lifestyle website hasn’t gone crashing down! Since I started this detox on Monday, I’ve had conversations with strangers, read an actual newspaper, and been completely present when conversing with my own family and friends.
Was it hard? Hell yes! Most conversations these days start with “Did you see on Twitter…” or “Have you seen that meme on Instagram…”, to which, I always had to reply “no”.
The Oscars take place tonight. I normally watch it with my iPhone in my hand to see what everyone is saying via twitter, and any funny pictures that I may have missed during the live broadcast (Chrissy Teigen full-on sleeping!). But tonight, I watch the show with my phone somewhere in my bedroom. Tomorrow, I will read all the recaps.
