Giving up my phone, for 12 hours. I typically wake up around 7:30am and go to sleep again around 11pm so between waking up and going back to sleep I will not allow myself to spend anytime on my phone. I will allow myself however to interact with other technology such as my laptop and television if its already turned on. I will keep a dairy and give brief updates on my feelings throughout the day.
Is my phone my minds prison and will I feel free from something. It will be interested to see the emotions I feel during the day. If you are interested please continue reading:
My no phone day diary:
7:35 am – Strange to wake up and not automatically pick up my phone. Instead I reach for my laptop, checking emails and the weather. Decided not to go on any social media.
8:02am – The sun is rising and I automatically went to pick up my phone where it would normally be charging from the night before. Instead I made a coffee and watched the sunrise instead of taking a snapchat. Felt very strange but somehow liberating.
8:30am – Making breakfast felt normal, however as the television wasn’t already on I couldn’t watch the news like I typically would. Strange to have my routine shifted.
9:00am – Just had a shower and didn’t have my Spotify to play songs, quickest shower ever.
9:12am – Having to collect an Ebay purchase today, realised I couldn’t use my phone for maps so instead wrote myself the lists of directions on a piece of paper.
9:57am – Waiting at the bus stop to catch the bus suggested by Google maps, cannot check bus times on my phone and I feel like I’m missing something. Obviously this sense of leaving something behind was the absence of my phone.
10:13am – Sitting on the bus I realise that my phone is a cure for awkward situations. I choose to look out of the window in the time I would normally waste scrolling on social media.
10:34am – Feeling liberated, walking to my destination to collect my online purchase. However the lack of music through headphones is frustrating. I remember the reasons why I decided to not touch my phone for the day.
11:23am – Arrive back from my travels and I’m very glad that my copied down directions were accurate. Thankfully I thought ahead and realised I would not have my phone to use as a virtual map.
12:16pm – Cup of cleanse tea time and someone has left the television on however its not on a channel I typically watch so I subject myself to daytime TV for a few minutes before residing to my room.
12:40pm – Sitting in my room after drinking my tea and tidying my room I realise I wouldn’t be doing that if I had my phone. I seem to be filling my now freed up time with useful things that actually benefit my time in the day.
1:02pm – Make lunch and find myself absorbed in more daytime television. Its annoying that I haven’t allowed myself to change the channel in this challenge but I’m glad I stayed in the communal kitchen this time as my friend walks in to also make lunch.
1:55pm – My friend and I decide to go for a walk and enjoy the sunshine and warmer day we are having for January. But still feel weird I cannot use my phone as she is scrolling through hers while I watch the world go by outside the window of the 11th floor building. I find myself noticing people being on their phones more if I’m not using mine.
2:30pm – While on the walk we sit at a bench overlooking the sea and my friend takes pictures. I love to also take photos and find myself annoyed and a feeling creeps back from childhood of feeling grounded.
3:03pm – Get back home from time at the cliffs and decide to do some university work. Realising I’m becoming so much more aware of my surroundings and being productive with my time.
3:45pm – Reflecting on the day so far without a phone it feels very free and a better sense of being grounded in the world.
4:00pm – After feeling grounded I feel very anti-social. I understand that there has been topics spoken about on this blog about how phones are taking away from real face to face conversations. But I feel more anti-social than I did with my phone. Texting and snapchats are a strange form of socialising but they keep me happy when I’m spending time in my room.
4:39pm – Back on my laptop again doing more university work, probably the most work I have ever got done on a Sunday before 6pm.
5:00pm – Its now dark outside and I want to relax a little before I make dinner however I cant in the normal way I do, involving social media and YouTube. Instead I read a book that I started reading last summer and never finished.
6:14pm – Feeling a more connected sense of myself after spending what seems to be so much time ‘in my own thought’ I decide to make dinner.
6:57pm – Everyone was in the kitchen and we spoke about the amount of time they think they waste on their phones and if they would want to do 12 hours without their phones. A few say that their life is on their phones and they wouldn’t know how to disconnect without feeling disconnected from something important. Others agree its a healthy step in the right direction to spend a little ‘holiday’ away from your phone.
7:23pm – After washing up and residing back to my room and pick up the book again. Is it tricking my brain into filling a quiet moment with distractions from the real world. I realise I have probably been the most aware of my surroundings during the day and let myself read as no other ideas of what I could do instead interest me.
8:09pm – Make myself a sleep easy tea and watch thick fog fall over Bournemouth town, the television is not switched on so I couldn’t watch it but I didn’t mind.
8:46pm – I receive an email from my dad asking how collecting my Ebay purchase was in the morning and I explain the challenge I’m doing and why I hadn’t replied or received his messages earlier. He seems to understand but wonders how other people would have communicated with me today if I hadn’t had my phone on me.
9:35pm – Reflecting from the email conversation I had with my dad I realise my friends could be worry about me and why I hadn’t replied. The strongest urge to break my no phone all day challenge. I’m glad I didn’t and decided to look before I go to sleep just to make sure everything is ok.
10pm – Checking other emails and planning the rest of my week from my laptop was tricky but fun to find all my timetables on the internet and not through apps on my phone.
10:33pm – Having spent a whole day without my phone and realising how productive I had been in spending my time doing things that improved me makes me feel accomplishes.
11:00pm – Take my phone out of the draw and switch it on. Feels cool and like I shouldn’t be allowed it. Reading messages and checking notifications I conclude that not a lot of people have tried to get in contact with me and if they have they haven’t pestered me for a reply.
Finished.
My feelings after the challenge the next morning:
I felt so useful yesterday in how I spent my time so decided to spend a few hours a week with no phone to see if that productivity would continue. It feels so strange how much our phones mean to us, after all we are the ones that give the inanimate object its significance. I don’t think it had been that difficult, I remember a strong sense to break the challenge in order to fulfil my minds own expectance. The world as it is today seems meant to be lived with a phone, our entire lives fitting into a back pocket.
I am glad I did this challenge and stuck to it. I understand that a day or something close to 12 hours is not difficult to do. However if I was able to do this challenge it interests me to see how much longer I could go without one again.
Please follow this challenge and take part. Leave your phone when you go out to social events and you’ll slowly make the connections in how much more in touch with the world you feel after disconnecting from the wi-fi connection.
Leave a Reply