“Unplugging” from Technology
by Marisela Meraz
Think about the last time you checked your email on your phone, sent a text or answered a phone call—was it five minutes or five hours ago? If you said minutes, chances are you are continuously picking up your phone throughout the day, not just once or twice. With technology changing and updating all the time, it’s unusual for us to be without our phone, iPad, or laptop. But, after a long workday, it should be routine for us to “shut down” our electronics, put them away for the night, and spend time by ourselves or with our friends and family.
We try to justify our excessive usage of our phones or computers with the reason that we are doing work, which is where the line between “work” and “rest” is blurred. How many of us have caught ourselves at lunch, at a friend’s house, or in the grocery store, answering an email or two? Because it is so easy, we see nothing wrong, but when do we truly stop working?
On the other hand, we tell ourselves that we need to be updated on what’s happening now, whether it’s checking the news online or looking through our social media accounts. We think that by constantly “checking in” online through Facebook or Twitter brings us closer together to our loved ones when in reality it does the opposite. Why write on your friend’s page when you can give him or her a call instead? Relying too heavily on social media makes us too comfortable to do and say things over the web instead of in person.
Try to integrate more “down time” into your day without the use of electronics. There are many things you can do to unwind after a long day of staring into the screen. Take an evening walk with the family. Finish reading those last few chapters of the book you started a few months back. Write about your day, even if it’s just a few lines, in a journal. Take the time to enjoy what is happening around you in your own life and you will be less interested in what’s happening on the screen.
*source: http://greatist.com/happiness/unplugging-social-media-email