Are you wired for success or insanity? Is your technology the chain that binds?
Here are some signs it’s time to go unplugged, at least some of the time (and preferably one day a week) on a consistent basis:
- You interrupt meals checking your email or texting (even in the company of others and in restaurants).
- You can’t imagine making your car a “no-phone” zone.
- You freak at the thought of going anywhere without your gadgets and will go back to get one you forgot at home, even if it makes you late.
- You reach for your tech toys first (or play with them while snacking mindlessly) when you are feeling sad, alone, or bored.
- You text or call family members using your cell phone even when they are in the house with you.
- You panic or go into serious withdrawal when you lose a tech toy or your computer goes down and you can’t get to your email.
- You get nervous just thinking about being without your cell phone, email or Blackberry for a whole day.
- You feel better about yourself when your social media friends and follower numbers are high, you feel sad or angry when they drop, and you feel totally rejected when you learn a specific someone has disconnected from you online.
If you see yourself in any of the above, you may be hiding behind your curtain of technology.
Tech addicts and gadget junkies rack up hours and hours of time that could be much better spent reading, having a relationship-building face-to-face conversation, or just decompressing by taking a bath or walking through the park.
Not sure if you’re affected?
Use this tool, Rescue Time, to find out how you’re really spending your time. Not how you think you are spending time (or how you tell yourself you are spending it). How you are really spending it.
Do you dare to go unplugged?