Disconnecting

We have all heard how important it is to disconnect from technology every so often. According to science and the internet, disconnecting from technology can increase mindfulness, increase social connections, increase focus and productivity, improve sleep quality, and more.

With all of the positives of stepping away from technology from time to time, I don’t know how many of us really do that in this modern day of technology dependence. As a person whose entire career is done almost exclusively on a computer, I have definitely struggled to remember how important it is to unplug myself from my computer or phone. It wasn’t until last month that I was really forced to take this seriously.

If you hadn’t noticed, I have been on a month-long hiatus (my last post was One Sentence Story #5 on June 16th). This hiatus was due to health issues, and during this time, I started enforcing a limited-technology policy with myself. For a week or so, I stopped using my cell phone for anything other than responding to text messages from only the most important people – no Pinterest (and I LOVE Pinterest), no Youtube, and very little Google. I started taking frequent breaks at work to rest, including half-hour walking breaks after lunch to be completely disconnected from my phone and computer. And I also stopped using my laptop at home because (as previously mentioned) I work on a computer for 8 and a half hours during the week – hence why I have not posted in a month.

Being disconnected for the month has gotten me into some good habits with my technology use… but was also surprisingly inconvenient in some ways. I was able to do some drafting by hand (which is how I write my first drafts anyway), but I have been needing to type out the next draft for a few weeks. So, I have felt stalled on progress with my writing projects. And now that I’ve started using my laptop again to write, it’s a slow process of getting back into it, staying focused, and fighting the urge to take a break every twenty minutes 😆.

I will absolutely continue to take my breaks at work and try to limit my screen time at home, as it’s good for my overall well-being. And hopefully, I will get back into the groove sooner rather than later. This post seems like a good start, at the very least – back to blogging!


2 responses to “Disconnecting”

  1. […] writing my previous post about disconnecting from technology, one of the other topics that came to mind was ‘disappearing’. For me, […]

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  2. […] First, I’ve had a lot of life changes over the past year that have impacted not only my time and availability to write but also my ability to focus on writing. I also lost a month due to health concerns (which I mentioned in a previous post called Disconnecting). […]

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