Unplug
July 18, 2011 in Health, Sweet Nothings
I don’t know about you, but my life seems to rely on online connectivity more and more. Or I seem to think that it does. Sometimes being “connected” in the way of social media and constant email messages starts to stress me out a little. There’s too much information being thrown my way and it seems to sap so much of my time and energy trying to wade through it.
But how do we gain back some control over our “real lives” while staying involved in our online ones?
Here’s what I’ll be trialling over the next few weeks:
- Don’t check social media/email first thing in the morning. I always wake up, roll over and immediately check my email. I’m barely awake, yet already need my fix of connectedness. Now I am going to wait until I have gotten up and done something else first – make a cup of tea, have a shower, have breakfast. Something. Anything.
- Schedule specific sites into your daily routine. I find it hard to stay on top of my Google Reader. I follow (too) many blogs, but I’d hate to miss out on a really fabulous post by skipping it altogether. Now I’ll schedule blog reading and commenting time into my day to start getting on top of the backlog without anxiety. Set a timer to ensure that you don’t lose hours of your day to hilarious animal videos on YouTube.
- Block time waster website from yourself for a few hours a day. LeechBlock can do this for you if you find exercising self-control difficult (pfft, who doesn’t?). Having a program block certain websites between times you have specified will allow you to get on with being productive.
- Turn off the computer 30 minutes before bed. I am horribly guilty of watching a DVD in bed with my boyfriend and checking Twitter/Facebook/email all the way through. Terrible I know. In order to let yourself relax, unplug yourself from the Internet half an hour before bed time (and ideally, the television and computer too). Use this time to unwind or prepare yourself for the day ahead.
I see this every now and then, this type of unplugging.. and I *definitely* see the value in it, for sure! But I’ve never really found something to trick myself into doing it. I like the ‘switching off before bed’, and I think that’s definitely doable. The morning one is hard! Heck, I wake up in the middle of the night, and in half-sleepiness I check emails and Twitter. That’s not good! Thanks for writing this :)
Thanks lovely. I am already feeling a little calmer just trying to practise what I’ve preached here. It has been tough as I feel like I need to know what’s going on online, but really things can wait.
Alex Franzen is having an Internet unplug week on her website, starting tomorrow!
I’m guilty og checking my email first thing in the morning too. Maybe if I wait, it will be more exciting too? :)
I feel much better if I can stick to my guns and wait for the emails. Another 20 minutes doesn’t mean the difference between life or death. I think it’s just our generation’s fear of being disconnected, but really it can be quite freeing. Thanks for your comment gorgeous. x
You’ve got it in one. Couldn’t have put it betetr.