Off the grid

When your phone isn’t working due to lack of network signal or any other technical problem, what is the first thought that rushes to your head? That you’re blocked out from the world and are isolated, unaware of what is going on out there? Or that you can finally get off the radar and enjoy some peace and quiet without the annoying buzz of notifications and messages that your OCD does not allow you to leave unanswered?

Like everything, there are two sides to every issue. One is that it’s actually liberating to sometimes know nothing. In many cases, ignorance is indeed bliss. Because what you don’t know, won’t trouble or affect you. But on the other hand, we need that constant communication with others. We want to know that our loved ones near or far are OK, and we feel we ought to be reachable in case of any emergency that may arise. Because we too would want to find someone in case we were in need.

Being out of range for a few hours every so often, though, actually helps as recharge, in many ways. It makes us realise how dependent we are on our devices, and how much we’ve lost touch with the small joys of life, including – and perhaps most importantly – our own mental health and tranquillity.

The Ancient Greeks had a saying, “everything in good measure”, or rather the need for moderation in all things – from consumption, to technology, to food, to overthinking. If we could control all that, we would definitely be able to regain some of our sanity.

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The difficulties of detachment

The reality is this: even when on holiday, on a leave, on a short getaway, we feel the need to be connected with the world digitally. We fear we’ll miss out otherwise. That something life-shattering will occur and we won’t know about it and we’ll be the only ones feeling we’ve been living under a rock simply because we don’t know of the latest trending topics.

So we spend our entire lives – without break – constantly attached to a digital world we are paradoxically trying to escape from.

We can’t turn it all off and disappear, although we know that would be the ideal.

We are unable to disengage, to discharge from the social media stress because we’re constantly thinking of our next post, our reaction to someone else’s post and so forth.

We’re caught up in an unhealthy antagonism of who’s having the most fun in the better place, and we waste time like this instead of actually having that fun and enjoying ourselves with the people physically next to us.

We find it almost impossible to distract our minds, to unplug from it all and simply relax. It’s as if we can’t not do anything. By now, due to the radical rhythms in which we live our lives, something still and tranquil is considered by our systems as abnormal. As something we are almost physically incapable of doing.

We are so dependent on our devices, we cannot enjoy the reality of doing things without flaunting them.

And in the end, we forget to chase our dreams because we’re busy chasing after the acceptance of people we hardly even know. For no apparent or useful reason.

It’s good to – at least try – to detach from it all for a while. To remember what it was like without the intrusion of social media in our lives. When everything – even our relationships – were so much simpler. And we weren’t all so constantly agitated and stressed that we are perpetually on the verge of a burnout.

Closing for holiday

It’s that time of year when you walk around and see “closed” signs all over. With the sun burning and the sea seducing you towards it, even the last remnants in the city are scouring for opportunities to escape, even if just for a few days, maybe even hours.

August has its best and worst moments. The worst is knowing you are among the last of those stuck working in a stifling hot city, having to tolerate all those lavishly flaunting their holidays all over social networks.

The best is that at some point during the month, you too will be found on that other side. Lying on a beach somewhere, with the only stress you have being that you don’t actually have anything to worry about. At least not for those moments.

This is also the best month to do pretty much anything you want – to fall in love, to travel, to pick up a new hobby. Because everything seems so refreshing and light. It’s the month when you regenerate yourself. When you reconsider your life options. When you take time off to relax and review everything in a different perspective. That is when you realise where you stand and where you want to go. When you stop and think about it.

And perhaps that is the best thing with this month. That it gives you the chance to take a break and detox yourself from everything so that when you return you’ll be stronger, more determined and more optimistic that better things lie ahead.

Batteries recharged

It’s amazing how we spend most of the year waiting for that summer month when you’ll finally take a much deserved break from everything for a few weeks, to detox your system and simply escape from the stress that is constantly hanging over your shoulders. The time arrives and you set off ready to let go of it all and just be. But then… How is it possible that these few days always pass by so quickly? Before you know it, you’re on the return journey to your daily routine, feeling as if your trip to paradise was already so long ago.

No matter how fast time passes by though, one thing is certain – even those few days helped your relax, recharge and rejuvenate your exhausted organism. They made you see how much more there is in this life, which we often waste worrying about needless things.

Sure, the city air hits you in the face like a moist sandpaper once you set foot back, but just think how much less that actually annoys you now because you’re still there on that balcony gazing into the sea and listening to the gentle crashing of the waves ashore.

It takes time to re-adjust to reality, but in doing so you know everything will be better now because you’ve recharged every single part of you.

Digital Detox

You know what, I think it’s time to take a break. People nowadays are so caught up with being online all the time that they actually forget to live in the reality that surrounds them. Indeed, everyone is too addicted to digital technology and social media, that even a three-year old can hijack your “i-thingy” and appear more knowledgeable at it than you do!

It’s a compulsive obsession. This need to advertise every single thing you do. Or don’t. It’s often annoying. But then again, even though everyone complains about it, the majority still does it too.  And no matter how much people say they hate social media, why are they not logging off then? It’s as if something is drawing them in. There’s a survey too to prove it!

But what is most annoying though is the fact that we live in an era where it appears almost impossible to live without constantly looking at a screen, no matter its size. Wherever you go, at whatever time of day, people of all ages are staring into a touchscreen, be it a phone, a tablet or a computer. They even gather together “to meet and catch up” and instead spend the entire time focused on that technological marvel in front of them.

Maybe we do need a digital detox after all. To get back in touch with what really matters. To actually pay attention to what others are saying to you. To make the person sitting opposite you and talking to you, feel important and not challenging them to compete (often in vain) with a touchscreen.

Sometimes you just need to step away for a moment and clear your head. After all, a decade ago (and no that’s not too far away), there were no such things, and people did live better, healthier and often longer. Ergo…?

So next time you’re out with your friends for coffee don’t look at your phone at all – don’t even put it on the table, cause that’s annoying too and extremely distracting for all.

Come on, can you bear it? I dare ya!

 

Also part of Trifecta Writing Challenge for the prompt word APPEAR:
3: to have an outward aspect : seem <appears happy enough>

Also part of Daily Prompt: Life After Blogs – Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

Also part of Daily Prompt: Bloggers, Unplugged