Right folks so it's been a week since my last post and please just allow me to say: MY GOODNESS WHAT A WEEK!
So right after my post last week I sat down and made a timetable, I stuck it on my little notice board all nice and colorful with my little ladybug push pins but I have to say I didn’t follow the plan at all, stay with me folks, don’t give up just yet. In my post last week I said that I would switch off for just an hour but when I made my timetable I decided that I wanted to take this further and I had pretty much allocated a good two and a half hours per day for my experiment. I planned that while I was commuting from home to work and during my lunch break I wouldn’t look at my phone and switch it off for the agreed hour in the evenings. So this is roughly how my experiment went:
Wednesday morning: I read a book all the way to work my phone was on but it was in my bag and I didn’t look at it until I was at my desk in the office. Outcome: I managed to read a few pages from a book my friend gave me a good start I must say.
Wednesday lunch time: This is where the withdrawal symptoms began to kick in! My phone died on me and I was transferring data from one to another so I decided to leave it on my desk and go out of the office without. With big hesitation and clutching my bag like my life depended on it I stepped into the world without my phone! I kid you not I felt un-easy getting out of the building without my phone with me right until I reached the shops: there isn’t anything shopping can’t cure! I went back to the office eager to be reunited with my beloved Blackberry but happy to have survived my first hour without it. Outcome: Shopping is awesome!
Wednesday evening: I had planned to watch a movie with a friend but that got cancelled and an event at work shifted my whole week. I was in the office till 21.40 and it felt so pathetic I had to complain on Facebook about it (because there was no one around in the office at that hour) and I definitely didn’t switch my phone off because I was having a rant about it with my boss who is half way across the globe via BBM! Outcome: Do I restore to my phone and Facebook in order to vent my frustrations? Does it really help?
Thursday morning: I was very tired after the stressful evening so I didn’t feel like reading. I listened to music instead which meant that I had to use my phone and out of boredom I did go on Facebook. Outcome: Do I use my phone and Facebook to kill time and boredom? Do I restore to it when my mind is too lazy to engage into anything else?
Thursday lunch: I went out for lunch with a friend and I took my phone with me and it sat in front of me all the time even though I didn’t look at it. Outcome: Not sure what to make of it really….why do I have to keep my phone in front of me? How much could I really miss if I don’t look at it for an hour?
Thursday evening: I went out for unplanned drinks with a friend and I didn’t switch it off but I kept it in my bag for the best part of the evening. Outcome: Well I could focus on the conversation and because I was focused I didn’t find the need to check my Facebook page every five minutes.
Friday morning: Because I can hardly remember what I ate yesterday, for this experiment I decided to keep a journal of my progress so all the way to work I updated the journal and started to jot a few ideas for the blog. Outcome: It feels good when I engage my mind into writing so early in the morning.
Friday lunch: Had lunch with Clark Kent today normally we never use phones when we hang out since we always have too much to catch up on or talk about to mind our phones so it wasn’t an effort to keep the phone in my bag. Clark is waiting to read the outcome of this experiment but we have agreed right away that I was not going to discuss it with him until after the post. Outcome: Our chats always evolve around creativity, art and the likes which are all subjects that captivate me. Does this mean that I’m not fueling my creativity enough and that when I do I don’t need anything else to entertain me?
Friday evening: Went on an unplanned pub crawl right in the city center (whilst wearing a Winnie the Pooh T-shirt…. Ahh the embarrassment) I know that by now I pretty much have lost face with my Maltese girlfriends but trust me girls this is London you can get away with anything. Back to the point, I geo-tagged myself before I went into a pub had a few drinks and way too many sliders (mini burgers). We moved on to the next pub and the one after that. A couple of hours later I look at my phone to find that a friend had asked me if I was going to be in Charlotte street longer I messaged her back but at that point it was pointless. Outcome: I missed not seeing my friend but yet again I was fully engaged in the conversation I was having with the people I was with and I was aware of my surroundings.
Saturday morning and lunch: I booked myself on a couple of jewellery making classes so I had my phone switched off for a good four hours. Didn’t miss it at all, since I was way too focused on stringing beads I had no brain space to think about my phone. Outcome: When I do the things I love I definitely don’t have a need for my phone.
Saturday evening: In one of those crazy last minute “let’s go girl” moments I picked up the phone called my friend ran home and before you know it I was out again dancing the night away in Windsor. Had to use my phone for part of the evening to chat with a friend who is on a different time zone but for the rest I had an amazing time with my phone in my bag! Outcome: I have to say my phone did crimp my style!
Sunday full day: Sunday I went on a road trip to the sea with some friends. The company was good and the day was simply brilliant. I messeged a bit while we were driving down to the beach (it did take us 5 hours to get there) but I didn’t use my phone much. The beach was amazing and dinner was exceptionally good. We were sitting right opposite of the Bournemouth Balloon (aka the Bournemouth Eye) which is a massive helium balloon. It was a beautiful view and a very tempting one. Sadly my battery went low right at the end of dinner and I had to turn my phone off to save some energy. We took a ride in the balloon and all I could capture was four photos this was where I really missed my phone and it’s simply because I wanted to capture the beautiful images right before me and nothing more! Outcome: It was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend and made me realise that my phone is just a tool; it shouldn’t be more than that. As I floated 150 meters above ground in those enchanted night skies overlooking Bournemouth I had an epiphany, right in that moment nothing else mattered to me. I didn’t care about anyone or anything; the silence and peace up there swallowed me up and made me feel whole. No phone or Facebook update ever gave me that feeling nor will they ever.
Monday full day: I was working from home all day to catch up with my work load without interruptions. When I do that my days get blurred so I didn’t have time to set fixed timings for lunch etc. When I was done with work still on a high from the night before I logged on a website called My50 where you can build your wish list of things you want to do/ achieve in life and it sort of helps you keep track of what you have achieved. I had started my list months ago and had a few items on it already, some of which were serious things that I might not exactly have control on. I deleted those items and filled the list with inspiring things I want to do that is in my power to do and that I know I can do if I’m brave enough or work hard enough. Outcome: My phone died on Sunday and it didn’t let me take pictures of the beautiful view, I won’t have many photo memories of that night but I have a feeling, a sensation that I will carry with me for the rest of my life an experience that is driving me towards me freedom. It was purely a phoneless PRICELESS moment.
To sum it all up it was a very colorful week with quite a few challenges but I think I did achieve what I wanted to achieve with my exercise. I cannot be in a balloon everyday (no pun intended) and I know that old habits die hard but after this week I also realised how much I am missing when my head is buried in that screen. Tonight I nearly had a misunderstanding with Clark and another friend because I was trying to juggle 3 different conversations on WhatsApp at one go and there again I had another realisation; how easily we could mar a friendship because we rely heavily on a communication method that can never express our true feelings and emotions. People can’t see your tears, fears or laughter from behind a message they cannot know if you are angry at them or juggling 3 things at once while really trying to get back to them on something. How dangerous is that in terms of human relationships?
My Conclusion: Life is those moments when you are hanging up in the air not the ones when you complain on Facebook that you spent the last twelve hours of your life at the office. I rest my case.
Love,
G
