Pull the Plug to Get Back to What’s Important in Life Let’s look at a typical morning of a person living in today’s digital world (abbreviated, of course). You get up, check your smartphone for messages, and maybe even look at email. While you’re at it, you see what’s happening on Facebook, too. Later in the morning, you get on the computer for more emailing and Facebook status updates as well as some Web surfing. Texting is going on this entire time, and it’s likely that you’re listening to some digital tunes via an iPod or Pandora… We haven’t even made it to lunch and nearly everything you’ve done so far is “connected” in some way. Don’t get us wrong: Technology is a boon and critical to functioning in today’s world. However, there comes a time when you simply need to unplug yourself and avoid potential technology overload. As stated by The New York Times, this overload “can cause us to become more impatient, impulsive, forgetful and even more narcissistic.” But is unplugging yourself, even for just a brief period of time, at all possible? Yes, it most definitively is. Try taking these steps to disconnect for a while:
Avoid email, television and social media as well as smartphone apps and games—even those Angry Birds deserve a day off!
Make this a family-wide event and spend the time that would normally be monopolized by technology together
Catch up on your reading—if you use an electronic device, like a Kindle, it’s your only exception, but limit its use to e-reading ONLY. But then again, maybe a “real” book is exactly what you need to really unwind
Start a journal and spend just a small amount of time each day to continuously supplement it
Work on your goals and long- and short-term planning Everyone needs to unplug once in a while to get back to what’s really important in life: family, friends and yourself. Resistance will be plentiful, no doubt; but once you’ve unplugged, the positive results will make you forget all about that smartphone. Try unplugging yourself sometime this week and tell us what you did during your device-free time. Once you’ve reconnected, simply visit and “like” our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/dayrunner and let us know how you unplugged yourself. About Day Runner At Day Runner, our mission is to assist people in “designing their day” with a touch of fashion and function. Many products can be configured for individual planning needs. Our loose-leaf day planners allow users the flexibility to easily select the page formats and style that they like and put them where they need those most. Our products are available from many office product retailers and dealers nationwide and can also be found in office supply catalogs. For more information or to order your planning and organizing tools, visit www.dayrunner.com.
