When the Screens Go Dark
I think we need to have an international day when the internet is shut down for just 24 hours. I honestly long for that day but I know, at this point that would be pretty impossible.
It’s entirely impossible as our world these days runs on the internet. People would get so agitated knowing their money isn't accessible for a day and the economy will be pretty much doomed. So, that’s why a power outage and internet outage would be quite a modern disaster on its own. However, I personally enjoy staying away from my phone or laptop for a couple of days at least in a year. Typically around December and before I start another year.
I used to do the extreme of unplugging from all of my devices but now it’s a bit impossible for some personal reasons. Anyway, whenever I am unplugging 90% and only use the phone when it’s truly necessary, typically I spend the day meditating, reading a book, crafting, fixing my room, and running. It’s honestly not that hard to spend 24 hours without the internet or even TV.
While I grew up watching TV, as I get older, TV is mere distraction. We don’t have TV at our house and it’s for the best. At the same time, as my mom grows older, she also prefers to read novels rather than watching TV. That’s why unplugged life for me is a lot easier as it’s something that our family does.
However, when it’s not planned such as a power outage, it does suck to go offline and having no access to our phone/internet. My ideal life is actually off-the-grid, not relying on the internet much, hermit style with a lot of books around me. Unfortunately, it’s going to take a while before I am making that a reality.
Sometimes, whenever I am overwhelmed and overconsuming information, I tend to go offline as well. I unplug myself from the screen, the internet and places where I could get access to information. To me, information is addictive and I tend to go down the rabbit hole too much. While it’s good to know many things, it can be quite unproductive.
I assure you that you sometimes need to unplug- touch grass and talk to each other. You’d come back feeling refreshed and realized that your life isn’t that bad. Sometimes when you unplug, you also have the chance leaning something new.
That being said, that is my response to the prompt and first time I am posting in this community. See you around!
Digi-Prompt 101: What Happens When You Unplug? Have you ever been in a situation where you had to go without your phone, laptop, or even TV for a long time? Maybe it was a power outage, a personal choice, or just bad luck. Share what it felt like and what you did to pass time. If you've never experienced it, imagine what it would be like and how you would cope.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
I disengage sometimes usually if I go camping or while I spending time with family for special occasions or holidays. It feels good to do that and be off the grid. I think everyone needs to disconnect so they can connect to the other things in life they are probably missing out on.
I use to be in the Facebook trap scrolling down the feeds but I had an incident where a hacker got into my account. I quit and looking back that was probably the best thing that could have happened. Now I'm rarely on social media and it has allowed me to do more meaningful things with my time.
Now there does need to be a balance of course because many things rely on technology. For some it may mean less time on the couch watching TV and also less time buried on the phone. People need to get on thier feet to be better physically and engage in real communication to be better mentally.
It's a good practice to have that you have the time to disconnect with your gadgets. A lot of us these days are hooked on the internet and often forget about the connection that we need to foster offline.
I grew up heavily around gadget and internet that I think sometimes it's too much. A lot of our societal problem also stems from it and at this point, unfortunately there's hardly a way out of it.
I grew up before everybody had cellular phones. Now even young kids have them. I think you may have nailed it on the head with stating there's hardly no way out of it. I can see it being very difficult for those who know of no other way of functioning without the gadgets. Maybe a world day of no gadgets or a week of gadget awareness would be a good proposal??
That would be a good proposal to have 😁 It would be interesting to see more people and younger ones do that.
Wow it's nice to see you stop by the community and your response is educative to me, especially the part where you say too much information could be quite unproductive.
I'm jealous to read it is easy for you to unplug from your devices hehe
I also think it would be impossible to have such an international blackout day 😅
It took me a while to get to this point but honestly, it was difficult to sit with myself and my mind. Overtime, I find it easier and something I do from time to time. These days I also strictly enforce a policy that after 2 AM, I should be around my laptop anymore or consume any meaningful information haha. I hope you can eventually practice it because it's refreshing to not get so addicted to out devices.
I'll try, it's something I want to get used to somehow. I can tell it would be refreshing to not be addicted 🥲
Weirdly I unplug myself usually when travelling. At least from TV and I already feel the benefits from staying away from it. I can focus on my life, instead of having my mind worried based on the ingested information.
When traveling is the best way to do that. Whenever I travel, I typically don't use my laptop much. I get distracted a lot by the things I see all around me. I also don't really use my phone as much as when I am home. But yeah, during days when I am staying in, having some type of routine to disconnect definitely helps.
Hoping I'm brave enough to leave phone at home today whilst we have a rest day at the beach.
I hope you'll have amazing day at the beach and leave the phone behind 😆
I smiled right after reading “crafting”. I agree with two things you said.
Yes! There should be an international day where everyone stays away from their devices. Also I believe it is easy to stay 24 hours without our devices especially when you’re engaged in crafting. I can’t even say the number of times I’ve lost track of time just because of crocheting.
I saw some of your crafting works and they sure will keep you from internet at bay 😆 It's a great thing to do and hobby especially when almost everything you do is online and needed an outlet that's crafty and involves some movement.
It would have been nice for the internet to stop working for 24 hours if not for the huge side effects it has haha
Being without our phones or the Internet can open our minds to a lot of things around us. So it is good to go unplugged once in a while
😁 Yes! I think when I was without internet or access to my phone, I use my brain a lot more than if I have information readily available at my finger tip.
A stack of books and nicely brewed coffee, and Mac is alright. So much serenity we can actually get from physically connecting with ourselves, other people, and nature. Running? Errr... That's interesting. Working out does a whole more than people actually realise.
You're right! I really think that with just two of them I could rest at ease, provided I have no bills to pay🤣 It's like suddenly having all the time in the world to eventually learn new things. Working out is amazing, it doesn't make me tired rather is energizing to me.
Maybe the world could be healthier with the internet break once a while. Might be really difficult, but we'll definitely adjust if enforced right. Say that you could, would you go a week or even a month in hermit mode? Nice to have you come around! Cool thumbnail, too.
@macchiata, I paid out 0.355 HIVE and 0.067 HBD to reward 9 comments in this discussion thread.