24 Hours Without A Phone

Let’s try an experiment. Put your electronics away for one day. Twenty-four hours. No emails, no texting, no Facebook, no Instagram, no TikTok, no Twitter. No Netflix. Nothing. Nada. Zippo.

Can you do it? Will your hands get sweaty, your heart beat faster? Will you pace or twitch? Will your mind go over and over what you might be missing? Do you see anything wrong with this scenario?

When did we get so glued to our gadgets? Most of our ancestors had virtually no leisure time. They spent their days trying to survive, cultivating crops or working in factories or building railroads or mining. Or raising children with no daycare and school only until the harvest, when kids were needed on the farm. Can you imagine what they would think of someone walking down the street, paying no attention to anything around them, looking at a little box in their hand?

No one appreciates technology more than we do. We couldn’t run our business without it. And it’s wonderful to communicate with family, friends, employees and business associates instantly. But we firmly believe there has to be a balance. If you spend four hours a day on your electronics, that’s four hours you’re not interacting with the real, live world. Four hours you’re not sharing time with a friend, hearing birds sing, inhaling the sweet fragrance in a piney forest, swimming laps in the pool or watching a football game in person.

When your life is nearing its end, are you going to look back and think how glad you are you spent so much time on social media or watching Netflix? Or will you cherish the memories of real life, thinking, feeling, sharing, laughing with actual people? We see visitors to the magnificent Yosemite National Park with its stunning views, and they’re looking down at their smartphones. Sheesh!