Last Monday, I deleted the Instagram and Twitter apps off my phone (not my actual accounts; they remain intact, but quiet).
I spent several days unsubscribing from dozens of vendors who have been blasting me with emails.
I stopped reading or listening to the news.
Yes, entirely.
I’m still active on LinkedIn and still use the Internet for work. But at least 80% of my digital activities have subsided, including 100% of my mindless surfing to kill time.
My plan is to do this for three months.
My clients are amazing human beings. One of them recently explained that he urges his clients to undertake such a digital detox. It’s the best way, he says, to escape what other people think and to relearn what you think. The more I thought about it, the better this sounded.
My biggest stumbling block was the desire and obligation to be “informed”. After all, isn’t a good citizen someone who knows what’s happening and why?
I finally came to the conclusion that 99% of the daily news is speculation, opinion and inaccurate. (Midwest Poised for Dangerous Heat Wave turns into a few days over 90 degrees.)
It would be far better, I decided, to invest an hour once a month in reading a summary of the past month’s events, than to spend an hour each day surfing news stories about what might happen (but probably won’t).
So far, I feel calmer and more pensive. One day as dusk approached, I simply sat in a chair and watched it get dark.
I’m reading Eat a Peach: A Memoir by David Chang.
The urge to check your phone, I’m remembering, is a bad habit, not a necessity.
Love the concept. Next step is aiming to implement. Thank you!
Well done! There is a quote from well over a century ago (so this is how long it's been going on...): If you don't pay attention to the news you are uninformed; if you do pay attention to the news you are misinformed.
I'd rather be uninformed from those sources, and prefer to inform myself using eyes to see and ears to hear. It turns out one gets a much better picture of one's reality this way. Enjoy your world!! It really is yours to create. And thank you as always for the inspiration, Bruce!