I went offline for 32 hours and this is what happened
My phone and I are an inseparable duo, but our relationship is a bit double-edged. I enjoy it when it's there and I equally love it when I can leave it aside. The Social Dilemma on Netflix I am increasingly afraid that Peter will later ask about my screen time at the pearly gates and that I will have to tell him that I looked at a phone for three to five hours a day (not counting laptop hours). It's something to be ashamed of, right?
LINDA.meiden, together with Gwen van Poorten made the call to go offline on January 10 and I joined in. She simply turns off her phone for an entire vacation and deleted WhatsApp from her phone, never to install it again. You would think I could manage for a day. At midnight on Saturday night, I read my last message on the NOS app, quickly refreshed my timeline on Insta, then set my alarm for Monday morning and placed it screen down on my nightstand. It had to stay there all Sunday.
A normal day for me starts with checking the news and Instagram. I put my phone on do not disturb at night, so I only read messages at breakfast. On an average Sunday morning, I can still leisurely linger in bed for half an hour to catch up on all the social updates from Saturday night. Not this time. I got up and took a book from my nightstand. Poured a cup of coffee and sat on the couch. And there it was for the first time: an automatic response where I wanted to grab my phone, but it wasn't there. It felt a bit strange, a small loss, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.
No looking things up in between, no saving a link to that nice lamp, no Instagram, not checking how many times my post on LinkedIn was viewed. I walked on Sunday morning, without taking a photo of the white ladies among the trees. I read Michelle Obama's book, which I had never found time for. I worked out my masterclass, yes on my laptop but without opening my email, without checking social media, and without looking anything up online. I walked with my friend's dog. I talked without distractions with my friend. I put all my dishes in the dishwasher much faster. I stared outside when I had nothing to do. I smeared myself from head to toe with body lotion. And with each hour, that strange urge to check my phone for an update faded a little more. It felt free.
Result: I opened my internet browser once to adjust my groceries, otherwise I could have picked up six bottles of laundry detergent at my supermarket this afternoon instead of the weekly groceries, which would have been inconvenient. My friend showed me photos of my grandparents' new apartment, where they are moving to on Tuesday. I FaceTimed with my best friend who had a birthday (on someone else's phone). Other than that, I spent the day without WhatsApp, email, Safari, and social apps.
My friend found me less distracted. I felt calmer. And this morning I actually didn't even want to take my phone off airplane mode, I enjoyed it so much. What did I miss? 1 missed call from someone I just know, 22 messages in my work app, 14 in the family one, 4 in the friend group, 1 from a colleague, 3 from a friend, and okay, 1 link from my friend because I really wanted to save that bamboo pendant lamp. I didn't even count my emails and social updates because they suddenly seemed much less important. Conclusion: I actually missed nothing at all.
Being offline for a day is delightful, quickly again.
