I was scrolling through one of the news feeds I follow on my phone last weekend when I discovered that I should not have been on my phone.
In fact, I should have been disconnected from all technology.
Since 2009, the first weekend in March has marked National Day of Unplugging. It is a 24-hour awareness campaign that encourages people to disconnect from technology.
Some people pledge a 24-hour respite of technology while others commit to putting away their devices for an hour or two. The idea is to disconnect from technology and reconnect with each other or do some other activity that does not require access to a phone, computer or other gadget.
I don’t recall hearing about this day before. It seems, however, that every day of the year is labeled National Day of (insert title here.) In addition to March 4 being National Day of Unplugging, it was also National Pound Cake Day, National Grammar Day and National Dress in Blue Day, but I digress.
Needless to say, I didn’t participate in National Unplugging Day this year but Saturday’s idyllic weather made it easy to leave the phone inside and complete a myriad of projects outside that didn’t require technology.
By the time I attended my niece’s basketball game, raked leaves, cleaned cars and walked our golden retriever Santiago three times — sans my smartphone — most of the day was gone.
It was refreshing to unplug for awhile.
I certainly could do a better job at disconnecting from technology — especially my iPhone — on the weekends. Throughout the week, however, I find it hard to do, as my phone houses my calendar, my email, reminders from my to-do list, my news feeds, my banking accounts and much more.
Still, I consider myself one of the lucky ones, as I do remember life before we had the abundance of technology we have today — smartphones, smartwatches, computers, WiFi and more.
For the first 15 years of my life, technology consisted of TVs, VCRs, Nintendos and Walkmans. At some point during that time, we also added a cordless phone. And I can’t forget the big camcorders that Mom and Dad would pull out at every holiday to capture video on VHS tapes as we opened presents. Today those videos that are 30-some years old are among our most treasured possessions … when we can get them to play on the lone VCR we still have.
Dad bought our family’s first cell phone in the mid-1990s so we could have it with us during our annual road trips to Florida. I remember it weighing about as much as a brick when I picked up the black case it was housed in and put it in the car. It was only to be used for emergencies, he told us.
I didn’t get my first cell phone until I was a junior or senior in college around 2003, and I don’t remember really using a cell phone much until 2004. We bought our first home computer — complete with a 56K modem — in the mid 1990s as well.
It’s still odd to think that most every day of my life for the first decade or so was a National Day of Unplugging … not counting all of those hours on the Nintendo of course.
While I wouldn’t want to get rid of the technology so many of us rely on daily, it is important to make time to disconnect from it when possible — whether that be on the National Day of Unplugging or, better yet, in smaller daily doses.
With that said, I think it’s time to walk the dog again and leave my smartphone on the kitchen counter.
jdpeeper2@hotmail.com
