Often people tell me I must be totally addicted to social media. Sometimes my friends make fun of me because I am always doing stories or posting something. However, believe me or not, I have very restricted rules about my time on social media. Did you know that in 2019 I took three breaks from social media/ electronics in different times of the year for 4-5 days? Before I start digging in why/ how / when I took break from social media and let me tell you a story.
My family used to spend vacation in the south of Portugal (Algarve), like 40% of the Portuguese do, according to this study (here). Every year, we would drive the four or five hours to a place call Armacao de Pera. At the time, there was nothing there! It was a very small village totally dependent on the tourism. We would go to the beach everyday (morning and afternoon), stay in a building 3 minutes away from the beach, eat in the balcony and play games at night. It was a very humble vacation but we loved. I loved it!
What I also remember was the fact that my dad would put his phone in a box inside of the car and never touch it until we were back home.
I never really understood why he was doing that. At the end of the day, he could also choose not to pick up the phone. Sometimes I would ask him: ‘What if you want to talk with someone?’ and he would always say: ‘I am on vacation. I want to disconnect’
In 2019 I took 3 social media breaks
It took me MANY years to fully understand that expression and words. Maybe I could only understand it this year when I went to Mexico (my trip to Mexico here) alone and my phone’s service was not working and internet barely worked where I was. It was the first time in many many years I was totally off! That week felt AMAZING and incredible long. In 5 days I read three books, I walked for at least two hours a day, I went to the beach everyday, I watched the sunset every afternoon and I even went out and met people a couple of times. That seemed the paradise. 😀 I returned to Chicago completely new and ready to kill the quarter.
Few months later, in September I decided to do it again, this time in the countryside. Me and my friend drove to Wisconsin and from day one I left the phone in the car! Again, four days without a phone I read three books, slept like 10 hours per night, walk for at least two hours a day and had loads of talking with my friend (and loads of eating).
Time for this came again in December after my finals. I noticed I was spending more time on social media and putting to much time on looking at what others were doing. That’s when I knew I needed a break to re-center and re-focus on me.
My 5 days break in December – What did I do?
NOTHING. In December, I was not able to travel but I decided to take a few days off anyway. During the break, I spent a lot of time Reading: I finished the four books I had started during my quarter; Writing: I wrote tens of pages on my journal and maybe 10 different articles for the blog; Cleaning: I love being in a place that I feel it is cleaned and feels home, so I did a lot of cleaning and re-decoration; Exercise: I did a lot of gymnastics, running and walking in the park. The Lake Shore walk is amazing and always brings so much inspiration. And finally, Sleeping: Lots of hours of sleeping. No alarm clock, no watch, NOTHING.
You might want to tell me it is impossible for you to take a break and I understand not everyone can totally disconnect. Some of you have to work or take care of kids BUT, small steps make a difference. Maybe you can start by reducing the number of hours on your phone or by disconnecting your phone earlier at night.
The advantages:
- You WILL feel you have TIME – It is incredible how much longer days look like when you do not have to reply to emails, call people or check someone else stories or photos. ATTENTION: I am not saying internet and social media are bad! I am very grateful to have it especially because allow me to connect with my friends all the time BUT having a break feels so GOOD.
- You do and remember to do the little things you love – Sometimes life goes by so fast that we forget the tight things we love. Not being immerse by electronics made me do more things I love such us, walking in the park sitting down and doing nothing. Literally looking at people and reflecting on life (I used to do it so much when I was traveling around the world).
- Relaxing without the pressure of time – It feels so good not to have a schedule. During the break it was all about me, my thoughts and dreams. I LOVE IT.
I hope this article inspire you to think about taking a break from electronics. It only took me 20 years to realize this, even though my dad was doing it in my early days. Hope you figure it out sooner than me. haha
Beijinho,
Daniela