Why I Am Ditching My iPhone!

Okay, so maybe I am not ditching it completely, but I am definitely going to be putting some restrictions on it.

We have just spent an amazing 10 days at the beach and it was bliss. Swimming, bush walks, lying in the sun chatting, reading, and eating copious amounts of food! The place we were staying had little to no cell phone coverage and no internet, and you know what…… I didn’t even miss it!

Nope! Not at all! Not once did I check in on Facebook, Pinterest or any of the other sites that I am slightly addicted to! I didn’t miss my phone being constantly in my hand and I definitely didn’t miss the distractions. It’s pretty sad to admit it, but for the first time in a long time, I was completely engaged in what was going on around me! I was fully present, at the moment, and taking in everything around me instead of having one eye on my phone in case I miss something!

It’s hard to think of life before cell phones and the internet, but it did exist! There was a time in my life where I survived without a phone, and I even remember a time not so long ago when we didn’t even have a computer in the house! (My kids find that hard to believe, “You mean you didn’t have one each?” “No, we didn’t have one at all!” “Oh, my goodness, how did you live?”)

Now, I am not completely giving up on technology. It’s great for keeping in touch with old friends, letting family know what’s going on in our world and for feeding my organizing fetish, but it’s not the be all and end all, and actually I CAN live without it!

So I have come back from the beach with a new resolve……..to use my phone (and internet) less! It’s not going to be a huge catastrophe if I don’t reply to a text within 3 seconds of receiving it, the world will not come to an end if I miss someone’s post on Facebook and it certainly won’t hurt anyone if I turn my phone off at 9pm each night! (If someone desperately needs me they can call the landline, I presume people still know how to call a home phone, or they can get hold of Phil…. He hasn’t quite caught up with my way of thinking yet!)

And you know what? It’s amazing how much freer I feel already! We went to a friend’s house for a BBQ today and I left my phone in the car! That’s right, didn’t even have it in my handbag, and not once did I miss it, want it or need it. Yip, I survived a whole afternoon without it and the world didn’t fall apart!

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the net, and will be on it (otherwise how would I write all my babblings, for you!) and I will still have my phone on me, but it won’t be the constant distraction that I have allowed it to be in the past. Nope, 2014 will be less internet conversation and more real-life conversation!