According to the Pew Research Center, about three in ten adults say they are “almost constantly” online. Teens spend up to nine hours a day watching or using screens. *
Those numbers don’t surprise me. What surprised me was that I hadn’t until recently discovered The Unplug Collaborative until recently and that March 3/4, 2023, is a National Day of Unplugging. An email from the CEO of US Cellular gets some of the credit. They have introduced “Phones Down for 5,” a challenge built around a simple action: taking a phone break for five days, five hours, or even just five minutes to reset the relationship we have with our devices.
That’s not an unreasonable challenge, although I know a few folks who would suffer anxiety if they couldn’t look at their phone for five minutes!
And there are good reasons to do it. Note that this isn’t a call to reject technology. It is a call to manage it. If you do some research (using technology, ironically), you’ll find some references to “digital detoxing” and “media fasting.” I liked one suggestion that we “put down our phones and listen to nature.” But we might also put down our phones and listen to our friends and our children.
If you’re more concerned with scrolling through Facebook than paying attention to the people right in front of you, it may be time to unplug. Even if you only commit to one hour per day.
The collaborative has over 200 unplugging ideas. One I particularly liked was creating a smartphone “napsack.” It’s a small drawstring bag that you can put your phone in. The idea behind it is that you give your smartphone a nap while you become more awake and alive.
Technology has the potential to bring us together, but it also can separate us. One story I read while researching this post was written by a young girl who lives in New York City. She described the change she experienced when she took her earbuds out and put her phone away while walking on the streets of the city. It started with some smiles and she’s now running a non-profit organization called Knock Knock, Give a Sock. In her Instagram Post, she says, “When I unplug, I’m able to give a smile.”
Maybe it’s time to unplug from the Internet and plug into those around us.
*Unplug Collaborative (n.d.). Why Unplugging Matters. Global Day of Unplugging 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023, from https://www.unplugcollaborative.org/why-unplugging-matters