Unplugging and Reconnecting

Ah, technology.  Gadgets.  The internet.  How do I love them?  I’ll spare you, and forgo counting the ways.

For all that they are amazing and convenient, however, sometimes they take over my life a little bit (or a lot).  As time goes by, I get into bad electronics habits.  One thing I do, which has been happening more and more frequently, is to have the tv constantly playing Hulu or Netflix.  I barely even listen to Pandora anymore.  I apparently have gotten to a point at which I need constant source of entertainment while I do housework, update Mint.com with my receipts, or whatever I happen to be doing.

I used to be pretty bad about being on my laptop all the time, even when I should have been talking with Chris or doing something more productive.  It’s a slippery slope, that ol’ internet.  There are many, many ways to waste time on a computer.  Now that I have my iPad, it requires even less effort.  It’s remarkably easy to get lost for hours without realizing it, with all the games and apps available.  I even play with my iPad while I watch tv.

“Stimulate me!” my brain screams.  ”I need to do more than one thing at a time!!”

Come play us!
Come play us!

I can spend half my morning getting caught up with my four (yep, count ‘em, four) Gmail accounts, the almighty Facebook, Draw Something, SongPop, Words with Friends, Scramble with Friends, Letterpress, and maybe a little Triple Town or Sudoku just for kicks – and before I’ve gone through them all, someone else has played their turn again or I have some other notification.  I don’t even look at Twitter anymore.  It’s too much for me.

Really, though, this is ridiculous.  All day long, my iPad makes little “ba-bing,”  ”doodle-oop,” “TING TING,” and “burrrr-ing” noises at me, and I consider it a personal victory every time I manage to avoid picking it up to see what caused the noise.

5 is a low number, actually.

“Oh, a new email!” I think to myself.  ”It could be super important, so I should check it right now, just in case.”

Usually, however, it’s a cat picture from my sister, an “is this your stuffed animal, and do you want it?” question from my currently de-cluttering mom, or a Hulu queue alert.  Shocking as it may seem, these things can wait.

Before I get too off-track, let me tell you what this is all leading up to.  A long, long time ago, I had another wordpress site in which I blogged anonymously.  I wrote a post at one point about something I had read about, the Secular Sabbath.  I don’t even remember all the details right now.  I could look it up, but knowing me, it would be a while before I got back to writing this, so I’m just going to go with what I recall.

The idea is to observe some sort of break from your normal routine, one day a week, and sort of ‘unplug.’  For some orthodox followers of a Judeo-Christian faith, a Sabbath means no work at all on that one day, usually Saturday or Sunday.  This is one way to do a secular Sabbath.  Another way is to distance yourself from all electronic nonsense for the day, excepting emergency phone calls and such.

Chris and I tried this out for a little while, but I think I took it to an extreme that was difficult to maintain.  I insisted on no electricity and no work, so I didn’t cook, but we used our gas stove to make hot water for tea, and just ate leftovers from the fridge (which I did keep plugged in, for the record).  I forget if I allowed use of the microwave.  I did not allow lights, so we played games, read, or whatever I deemed acceptable during daylight hours, then managed the best we could with candles until we got frustrated and went to bed early.

It was kind of nice, but like I said, too extreme, and ultimately not satisfying or successful.  With that in mind, this past Sunday, I mentioned to Chris that I thought I had gotten too wrapped up in the world of electronic communication and entertainment, and I proposed a break from that for the day, at least until it got dark out.  He was all for it.  We closed the laptops, turned off the tv, kept the stereo off, and I silenced my iPad.  We kept our phones on, but didn’t make any calls.

my mess, and Chris’s tidy little drawing project

Then we had to decide what to do.  First order of business was to stay in pajamas all day, so that was good.  We decided we felt crafty, and got ourselves involved in various artsy-craftsy projects that kept us happily occupied for the entire afternoon.

I washed some dishes after I got sick of Mod Podging things, and sang show tunes and jazz standards while Chris played with his technical drawing tools.  Later on, I gave him a haircut, and after the sun was totally down, we watched one episode of Deadwood and went to bed.

It was exactly what we needed.  We didn’t even talk for a lot of the time, because we were focused on what we were doing, but we were at the table together and quietly enjoying each other’s presence.  It was, in a word, refreshing.  As it turns out, my brain does not need to multitask in order to be happy.

There were times when I yearned to pick up the iPad and look something up, but ended up taking one of my many useful reference books off the shelf and looking it up.  It was a good reminder of why I actually have those books.

Chris explained to me, with diagrams, exactly how a photovoltaic panel generates electric current.  If we hadn’t had such a mental break all day, away from the constant stimulation of our various devices, I might never have asked him, and the explanation he gave me might not have been as in-depth.  (As long as I’m being honest, I’ll admit that I might have lost patience and walked away before I understood the concept fully.)  The respite was very good for us.

I know not everyone has the time to dedicate a whole day to this.  Chris and I probably couldn’t do this every weekend.  I think it’s important to do once in a while, though – maybe once a month, whatever works – just as a kind of technological detox.  I felt much more focused and relaxed by the end of the day.  If 12 hours could do that, I’d like to see what a solid 48 hours of no gadgets would do for me.  It’s an interesting thought.

So, the long and short of it (mostly long) is that I recommend everyone try some form of this on their own, sometime in the near future, even if it’s just for a few hours.  Distance from the chaos of smart phones, tablets, televisions, and computers provides clarity. This isn’t groundbreaking news, but I think it’s something we all need to remember periodically, and to practice.  I plan on suggesting another electronics-free day very soon, and I feel certain that Chris will be on board, as well.

I’ve gone on quite enough for one day, so I’ll leave you with that.  Thanks for reading!