Could you last 24 hours without your phone?
Thursday marks National Day of Unplugging, a day where everyone is asked to take a 24-hour break from technology.
Digital detox expert Alyssa Lynn Malmquist offers some tips to help people break away from their electronics.
- Let your story play out according to your guidance, your instinct, and your voice: three things you can’t find on your phone.
- Focus on experiencing over capturing. Nourishing your mind with organic human contact guides you towards human connection.
- Follow your most authentic self in real life and follow those on social media less. When we stop giving power to those we follow online, that power gets reassigned back onto you.
- Prioritize connecting with others in person. Rather than communicating through a screen, meet up for cocktails, mocktails or coffee.
- Now more than ever, people are focused on following others, lessening the attention of their own passions. But when people follow themselves first, they can explore the number of ways they can express themselves and ultimately better know themselves. This level of self-awareness has no craving for virtual affirmation.
- What we need to remember is that the digital realm is a perception, an often altered perception. When looking for organic connections with people, the best place to find it is organically in real life. Recognize that your input will always reflect your output.
- Young people used to not care so much. A time of experimentation, growth, and discovery is now documented, judged, and heavily examined. Older generations are trying to connect with younger generations, while younger generations are trying to connect with strangers while strangers are trying to connect with themselves. Put the damn phone down and follow what makes you different; love what makes you different.
- When we use social media to communicate, that communication can go on at that moment, but also long after that. Likes, comments, and views are updated by the second, and the ease of tracking can become addictive as each notification feeds your ego. Be cognizant of this transaction because it gives you a one-way ticket onto the self-comparison express. There will always be someone who seemingly has more than you, but remember that there will never be another you.