Why I Chose to Unplug and Take a Nothing Day

MartinRaymondo

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MartinRaymondo 〰️ 〰️

Ever since I came across this idea online, I’ve wanted to give this a shot. 

But can I unplug for an entire day? 

I tried to do this for months before I got the courage to attempt this craziness. Can you imagine going four hours without your phone or computer? I felt petrified, which sounds embarrassing.

How I got started

I needed some preparation to convince myself I wouldn’t die along the way. Life before technology was something I had forgotten all too quickly. 

I notified people I connected with like I was some end-of-the-world preparer. 

They needed to know I wasn’t dead if I did not respond. 

That lifted much pressure off me as I would have become a worry wart.

Rules

You can make your own rules around this. I tried mini day offs for an hour or two, and even those helped, so I decided to lengthen this one. 

Some of my rules were:

• No screens at all, so no reading any articles or surfing the web.

• No video games. I know these are screens, but it was its own section for me.

• I could use my phone to talk to people but couldn’t engage in video chats, texts, emails, etc.

• No writing allowed. Even on my day off, when I couldn’t write, I wanted to take a break from writing and scrolling through social media. 

I could do things like cleaning, cooking, socializing, or being alone with my thoughts.

The Results

I did go out with some people, and let me tell you, I never realized how much everyone is on their phones. 

People would turn to me and try to show me a short video or a meme, and I would turn away like it was some weird pornography. They remembered my no-screen rule, a habit, so they always apologized afterwards. 

Next time you go out, watch how many people are on their phones. 

It’s ridiculous. 

Being alone with my thoughts was very peaceful, and the bonus was I came up with some ideas. I wrote them down on something I hadn’t seen in years…I think it was called “paper”. 

I felt like someone in the 1600’s. 

I woke up at 9:45 am and went to bed at 11 pm on the day of my experiment. The day felt long but not in a wrong way; in a way, I noticed it. 

You know when some weekends race by. 

Well, this was the opposite, and I enjoyed that. There’s nothing like feeling you did a bunch of stuff and didn’t waste the day away. Next time, there will be a partial break, say no screens until after 6 pm or nothing after 6 pm. 

You can experiment and see how it goes. 

It would be difficult not to get something positive out of this day off, and your brain will thank you.