The other day I took a walk. I always grab my phone because these days my phone is my camera also. From time to time, I like taking a snapshot of something I find on my walk. So I had my phone in my pocket and went for a walk around the block. The block. Not a very long walk. While I strolled along my phone beeped so of course I looked at it. It was an email from some spammer probably wanting me to buy such-and-such thing.  Immediately I realized what I had done or more to the point what I had not done. I did not wait until I was home to check my message, no, no. I checked it right then and there on the spot. That’s when I realized enough is enough. I needed to unplug for awhile.

Realistically, I could only commit to one day. I spend all day at work studying dual monitors and entering data in and taking data out. Then I come home and spend up to another 4-5 hours with email correspondence, watching media, or just wasting time on Facebook. There is no way I would make it more than one day unplugged. But I could do 24 hours.

I decided Saturday would be the day. This wasn’t the first time I had attempted this. But every previous time I have failed because I felt I needed my phone for “emergencies.” I left my phone on for those “just in case” moments (that never arise) and I would end up checking my email by noon. If I was going to succeed, I was going to have to go (gulp) phoneless. Plus, I needed to advertise and spread the word.  If people knew about it – just one person – and I knew that I was being watched I’d be more likely to follow through.

Three days before the big event I posted this on Facebook:

I feel like I’ve been going a million miles a minute lately (granted, I realize my million miles is the equivalent of some people’s gazillion million miles a minute). At any rate, I’ve noticed some cracks in the set up. So, I’ve decided to unplug this weekend. At least all day Saturday. No email. No FB. No checking my blog stats. If you catch me using any of this Saturday – call me on it! Don’t let me get away with it. My plan is to sit on the front porch. Read a book. Take in a movie (technically I won’t be plugged in). If you’re in the neighborhood – stop by.

My coworker saw it and commented on it. Okay, now I’m committed to doing this. I had to succeed because someone was watching me.  So far, so good.

I decided to go from Friday evening to Saturday evening. A full 24 hours but the nighttime stretch would be at the beginning. The reason for that made sense in my head. Can’t really explain it now.

Friday at 10:00pm I posted:

Okay, I’m unplugging for the next 24 hours. No social media and no internet. I’m turning off my phone, iPad, and computer. If you want to talk to me – stop by and visit.

One small favor – if there is an emergency of some kind (ie the town is being evacuated, etc) call my landline. Or stop by on the way out of town and give me a heads up. Thanks in advance. 😏

And then I turned everything off. My iPad, my computer, and my iPhone.

Things became really quiet.

I watched some tv and went to bed.

When I woke up in the morning I did not look at my phone or my iPad. That was no easy task, let me tell you.

In the morning, I read actual books. While I ate breakfast I read the newspaper – made from actual paper. I did some spring cleaning.

I talked myself into going to see a matinee. But first I had to find out the show times. I pulled out the phonebook and found the theater’s number. Luckily, my dad still has a landline so I used his phone to make the call. This phone is on its last leg so I actually had to spend a few minutes figuring out how to make a call from it. In my defense, it’s not as simple as dial and wait for the other line to ring. There were extra steps I had to figure out.

I went to see Jurassic World but I’ll delve into that deeper at another time.

After the movie I felt like I should check in with somebody and make sure no emergencies had come up during my absence. I stopped at my brother’s house.

Nope, nobody even knew I was off the grid.

For some reason, I craved nachos.  Not the big nacho dishes from fast food places.  I wanted the cheap nachos with melted processed cheese.  But where to find some?  I couldn’t ask Siri, I had to figure it out on my own and I failed.  I ended up at a fast food place getting some not-so cheap nachos.

When I arrived home, it was still pretty early so I did some yard work. Minimal at best.

Then I sat on the front porch and read a book and enjoyed some nature until nature took a turn on me in the form of a bee.  But again, that’s another story.

When it came time to jump back on the grid I dreaded it. Turns out, very few people even realized I was out of touch. The world still continued to turn even when I wasn’t connected. I survived 24 hours without the internet and the internet didn’t even know I wasn’t around.

I have decided to do this online fast more often. Just close my eyes and jump. I’m the only one that will even notice I’m gone for a bit. But that’s okay.  I’ve also decided to scale back on my blog a bit at least for awhile.

There will no more be 7 posts a week.  I’m still deciding on a new schedule.  My intent to post daily was to reach my daily view goal of 10.  But lately, the views have become fewer and fewer and the quality of my posts is lacking.  I took off my WordPress app from my phone and I’m trying not to care about the number of views.  It’s not as if it’s that accurate anyway.  I can get three likes before I get one view.  So, I’m letting go or at least, loosening my grip.

All in all, I consider my 24 hour on-line fast a success.  A reminder of what’s important.