Disconnecting  101

Creating Zones for Disconnection

After near two decades of being exposed to connected technologies, at one point I decided to embrace a certain discipline to allow my brain have some resting time on a regular basis. It all started while I was actually working for a tech company. Communication via e-mail and ticketing systems were an important part of my job. I didn’t mind working overtime when needed. What mattered the most to me at that time, was to know at one point the workday was over. Back then I was working full time.  What tended to tire me the most wasn’t that much the actual work, but the constant state of being connected. I started by deleting my work mailbox from my personal phone. I know this can not always be possible depending on the situation, but for me it actually worked pretty well. My rational was that there was no need for me to access work related information, if I wasn’t going to be able to act on it immediately. That way I was only doing work related activities while I was physically at work. I was often the first one to make it to the office, and last one to leave.  For real emergencies, I could be reached on my cellphone. I was able to work this way for several years. I don’t think anybody actually noticed that I wasn’t accessing work related e-mails outside of work, since I was able to respond to all work related communication in a timely manner.

I also started to put my phone on flight-mode while I was carrying it on me. I started doing this at first because I did not want to be exposed to harmful waves while carrying my phone near my body. I then noticed that it was way less time consuming to respond to e-mails and messages by batches at a certain time during the day rather than checking my mailbox every ten minutes and responding to e-mails one by one. I started to have the same approach with my personal communication with friends and family.

My current situation is a bit peculiar, since I live in Argentina doing at the most some freelance work. For the past 13 months or so, I managed to live without a phone plan. I’ve been only using WIFI when available, and it has been working pretty well for me so far. When I am commuting with public transport, I mostly read books instead of starring at my phone.

Fasting from Connectivity

I find my approach to digital disconnection very similar to the way I approach food and fasting. Instead of eating three times a day. I tend to eat once or twice a day. I avoid eating between meals. At the end of the day, the amount of food intake probably equals the amount consumed by a person with more traditional eating habits. It’s not in terms of quantity that my approach differs, but more on how I consume food. With digital connectivity I have have a very similar approach. Having some time off from being connected helps my brain to rest, and be more productive when it’s time to deal with work which needs connectivity. I also try to have at least one day a week, when I don’t visit my mailbox. Sometimes I try to not touch any electronic device for an entire day. (Feel free to check out my journal entry titled “I haven’t done anything for 34 hours”) In March 2018 it’s going to be a year that I’ve been dry-fasting on any given Sunday (As I am writing this it’s February of 2018). I also try to stay away from stressful activities during that day. I basically prioritize resting over being active on Sundays.

First Seduced then Trapped by Technology

I was always amazed and excited by technology since it first entered my life in the mid 80 with a Sinclair computer and later on with a Commodore 124. My excitement has been still remaining for the past two decades, to witness what human intelligence can produce through technology. There are software programs and applications which are helping me a great deal in my creative activities. Thank to technology I can do freelance work here in South America for clients based in the US through an European company that hires freelancers like myself around the world. My current lifestyle wouldn’t be possible without the help of technology.

All that said, I am coming to the realization that in the bigger scope of things, where technology is currently taking the humankind is not a good place. I also start to think that all this technological advancement does not go in the sense of our best interest as human beings. In the long run it is going to turn us into dumb slaves. I do believe that technology is killing our social lives, killing our jobs, turning us into narcissistic zombies through social media, and at the end of the day I think we are getting less joy out of life because of technology.

More and more, I suspect the positive aspects of technology being seducers to makes us embrace technology more rapidly and without opposing any resistance. The other day I saw a quote on a blog stating that “The happiest moments of your life won’t be happening while staring at a computer screen”. Well, if we stare at computer screen all day every day, then the happy moments will most likely never happen.

I am currently in Montevideo Uruguay for a short visit. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been amazed by the fact that people tend to hide less in bubbles created by electronic devices. I witnessed families spending time together at the shores. They are actually talking to each other.  When I’d be crossing paths with strangers they would actually look into my eyes. It’s a great feeling to be acknowledged. After living over a year in a big city like Buenos Aires, seeing Montevideo confirmed my idea that the life I want for myself isn’t in big cities anymore. The advantage of smaller cities compared to huge metropolises reside in the fact that they tend to stay at a more human scale.  As far as my life is concerned, I truly want to go back at interacting with human beings more, and less with computer screens. In order to make this possible, I need to be living in places which are smaller in size and closer to nature.

Tips and Tricks

To conclude I would state that being conscious that constant connectivity can be harmful for my well-being, makes me think  that I have already won the half of the battle. On a more specific level, here’s a list of small behaviors I’ve introduced into my life in order to reduce the negative effects of constant connectivity. Here they are:

• I put my phone on flight mode before going to bed.
• I don’t check my phone first thing in the morning.
• I start the day by doing yoga, breathing exercises, and I do at least one creative activity such as writing or playing music before going online.
• If it’s a workday when I am doing freelance work, I only connect to access the information I need for work.
• I avoid at all cost to deal with e-mails first thing in the morning. I try to delay as much as I can my connection to my e-mail account. This may or may not be doable depending on your professional activity. Even if e-mail is an important part of your work, I strongly suggest doing at least one activity that is not dependent on connectivity before jumping into your mailbox in the morning.
• I try to delay even more my connection to social media and YouTube during the day. I try to approach these as entertainment mostly near night time.
• When I am out in the city, my cellphone is pretty much always on flight mode. I don’t have a cellphone plan at the current moment anyway, so there is no need to expose my body to potentially harmful waves. I occasionally connect to WIFI when available.
• One day a week I try to reduce my connection to internet as much as possible.
• Once in a while I do social media fasts. The last one I did allowed me to not connect to Facebook for a month.
• Before connecting to social media I try to have a plan. I usually check my messages, and try to spend as little time as possible on the news feed. I call this the commando style in and outs to social media.
• I make sure to logout from social media platforms after using them.
• I use different browsers for different activities. I use Google Chrome for my freelancer job. Firefox for my own productive activities, and Safari for social media, soccer news etc… Using different browsers for different types of activities allows me to not mix everything, and stay focused on what I am supposed to be doing at the current moment.
• I try to reduce the amount of time I touch my cell phone during the day. I try to avoid it altogether during the hours when I am being productive, and tend to use it more during late afternoon and at night.
• All sounds from my cell phone are turned off. I don’t use the vibrate mode either. I value immensely not being interrupted. Instead, I prefer being the one who goes towards information to get it, instead of the information coming to me and interrupting my current activity.

Those are the little things that have been working out for me. I believe that they reduce considerably the harm coming from constant connectivity. They may or may not work for you. I believe that once we take into account that constant connectivity can be harmful to our health, then I find it pretty easy for the human mind to come up with solutions in order to attenuate those harmful effects. Maybe one day I will be able to have a life where I won’t be looking at a computer screen for weeks. Until then, those are the little tricks that have been helping me out. There is one book written by Cal Newport on this topic that I would like to recommend named “Enfocate”. I’ve read the translated version in Spanish, I believe the US English version is called “Deep Work”.

I AM NOT A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL. I would like to make it very clear that I am only sharing my own experience on this website, and have no intention to give any specific advice on health. Please read the disclaimer section for more information.