Words cannot describe just how relaxed I feel after taking a much needed extended break. You may have noticed that it has taken me a while to upload another post and that’s because I've been extremely busy taking the time to actually enjoy living life. I've been travelling all over, catching up with friends, spending time with my family, taking a break from London, going on lots of dates, having lots of nights out….doing everything that being young should be about.
| Towards the end of 2017 I felt incredibly overworked. I was deflated, I'd lost all inspiration when it came to my blog content and my life had become solely based around my job, my social life non-existent. It took me to this point to realise that I finally needed to take some time off. My job kind of revolves around technology, so to allow myself a complete break I set myself the challenge of taking a digital detox. In other words...no WiFi allowed. I just didn't intend on my social media hiatus to turn into a year break. | It sounds a little scary at first being completely shut off from the internet; not knowing what all my friends are doing, keeping up with all my emails, watching my favourite Netflix shows or being able to update both my blog and Instagram. Yes these are all first world problems. I’m aware, but for someone like me who is always using some kind of technological device it’s kind of hard to imagine a world without it. However, over the past year I did something that I never thought I would do and went on a wifi blackout. |
I didn't really use the internet at all for a good month, apart from when I was lost and in need of directions. I contacted friends and family by phone or text so people didn't think I'd just dropped off the face of the earth and was in fact still alive, but never updated a status or posted a photo. When my break ended and I began to use the internet again more regularly some habits stuck. It wasn't long before I was watching Netflix again, catching up with the news, buying things online, but social media somehow no longer felt so important. I didn't feel the need to share my every thought with the world or let people know what I was doing. I was just focused on living life rather than documenting it for others to look at. It's only now after a very long break that I have made a return to social media and it's taking me a while to get back into the swing of things.
I believe it’s a good thing to have some time offline every so often. It's a refreshing change to not be constantly glued to your phone. I would actually recommend to anyone that's thinking about doing it to go for it. Turning your back on the digital world can seem a bit of a daunting prospect, but a break from the glossy world of Instagram and other socials is sometimes needed to not loose touch with reality. You'd be surprised as well, going offline does come with a few positives that do out-way it’s obvious cons.
1.
AN ONLINE
ADDICTION
_
To be honest without technology I wouldn’t really have a job. Working in television and writing this blog on the side just wouldn’t be possible without it, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not guilty of over using it. I probably spend most of my day staring at a screen and online. This is partly be my own doing. I have to use a computer and internet at work but I’m the one that stays up late watching Netflix and scrolling through Instagram when trying to pass the time. Going offline for a bit made me realise just how much I can overuse it; staying up late watching dog videos, liking Instagram model's photos or scrolling through my Facebook feed looking at what my friends have been up to and watching more dog videos that they have shared….not the best use of my time. My brief stint with completely no internet gave me a better idea of when the right time to be online is. It’s a great tool to be productive and keep in contact with friends, but if overused it can be a distraction from the real world.
2.
TIME TO
SWITCH OFF
_
Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that one of the perks of living in a city is easy internet access. When I visit my parents in the country side up north there’s never really a good connection and I never seem to have any phone signal. However, easy internet connections are also the reason I have constant access to my work emails, blog schedule and work timetable. Going offline meant that when I came home and took some time off to relax I could fully switch off. I found that when I came back to London after my break that I was a lot more relaxed, a lot more creative, had lots of new ideas to put into my blog and most importantly ready to work again.
3.
GETTING FOCUSED AND PRODUCTIVE
_
After a break from the online world I found that I was a lot more productive. Like I said before, going offline gave me an understanding of when the right time to go online was. Meaning less interruptions and distractions and a lot more focus. Normally my phone would be constantly going off with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatsapp and email notifications that I couldn’t help but procrastinate and spend a great deal of my time going through. Since going offline I’ve taken a few steps to change this. I removed unnecessary apps like Facebook and Tumblr, only keeping the ones I need like Messenger and Whatsapp to keep in touch with friends. I have kept Instagram though, I can’t delete that yet...but baby steps.
4.
IT'S IN OUR
NATURE
_
Unfortunately though, the reality is that using technology is kind of in our nature. The modern world has become more and more reliant on technology as a whole. It’s kind of impossible to go completely offline for a long period of time without losing touch, especially in my line of work, so I couldn’t really be completely offline for more than a month. That being said I guess the whole point of setting the challenge of taking a break from the internet and going offline isn’t really about never using our electronic devices again, but more about teaching ourselves that there is a right time to be online and times where we should be using it less. Which I definitely learnt from my unintentional extended social media break.
I’m interested to know if anyone else thinks that they are using the internet too much and what you think about spending less time online, so leave a comment below.
  |
  |
0 comments