Going Off The Grid

I live a very connected life. My boyfriend and I counted 10 different systems that connect to the internet in our household. Our household of 2 people and 1 cat and 1 dog. When i'm not face-to-face with a client, or doing a training, my work is almost entirely online; writing, outreach and scheduling. I love twitter, instagram, facebook, blogging, gmail and outlook. But it can be a little much

Challenge to myself: 3 days of no phone, no computer, no ipad. Yes all of Labor Day Weekend

I read. We talked. We went to the Berkshires. I got ice cream without instagraming it. I made meals that didn't have to be recorded. Most importantly, the world did not collapse because I wasn't responding to emails on the weekend or tweeting up a storm. I did have a very realistic dream that i was checking my gmail and had 400 unread messages. (not too far from reality-Tuesday morning=300 unread).  When you start dreaming about tech connectivity that's when it starts to get scary.

Like Jenna Wortham put in her great NYTimes article about turning off her phone:

"My revelation — relearning the beauty of living in the moment, devoid of any digital link — may seem silly to people who are less attached to their devices. But for many people, smartphones and social networks have become lifelines — appendages that they are rarely without. As such, they can sway our moods, decisions and feelings."

You're going to want to read the rest here 

Because FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) is a scary reality in our world (as Steph explained here) It's time that all took some time to learn JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out)

I'm going to go back to my  tweeting, blogging, emailing and writing with a reminder that it is OKAY and in fact, NECCESARY to turn it all off every once in awhile.

How connected are you and how do you feel about that?