Could you go 7 Days Without
Internet, Phone, and Email and
Survive?
I did and there were some very interesting
side effects.
I just arrived home after spending a week at a
health retreat and what an interesting week it was.
Part of the overall detox philosophy at the camp
was the need to detox from the modern connected
world we live in and I have to say, it was
challenging.
Day one and I was like a junkie, pacing the room,
looking for an Internet connection or a single bar
on my phone. Slowly a sense of dread started to
settle in. How on earth was I going to cope with
seven whole days with no contact with the outside
world?
Interestingly I'm not sure what concerns me
more--the fear of missing an opportunity of some
sort, the fear of letting a client down or the fear of
something happening and I wouldn't be aware of
it. Rest assured, the only common theme here is
fear.
What I really noticed was how much time I had on
my hands when they weren't constantly connected
to a device of some sort. All of this time let me do
things that were far more constructive in many
ways. I read seven books in seven days.
The fog started to lift at about day three. Part of
this was due to the end of my caffeine cravings
but I certainly felt like my brain was working
much better.
Now that I wasn't spending the day doing a
million things, multitasking like a mad man,
bouncing around all over the place, my thoughts
Student# ____ Name: ___________ Class# _____
were crystal clear. I could think something
through, at a high level, from start to finish and
make very clear decisions.
Another interesting observation was that I started
sleeping really well, in fact, 10 hours per night
plus. Yes, some of this was because they made us
do exercise, but nothing excessive. I do not doubt
that I was sleeping well because I was more
relaxed as a result of not checking some device
every five minutes, especially at night.
Towards the end of the week, I had totally lost the
need to have my phone attached to my hip. I had a
sense of going with the flow and if anyone needed
to get in touch with me, they would be happy to
wait till I was back in the office (which as it
turned out was true).
At the end of the week, I turned on my phone to
about 1,500 emails—95% were a waste of time,
junk, or just plain unnecessary. The rest I
responded to and cleaned up in about an hour and
a half. Yet I seem to spend hours each day on
email. So, from now on I am definitely blocking
email time--twice per day then switch it off.
Another interesting thing happened when I started
to watch the evening news. The first three stories
were particularly graphic, brutal, violent, cruel,
and sad, and I felt myself becoming physically
sick, to the point where I had to turn the television
off. These terrible stories had a physical effect on
me. Wow, how desensitized had I become in the
past, being bombarded with stories like this all
day? From now on I am going to be very selective
about what I watch and what I listen to.
Overall, was it a good exercise? Absolutely. Can I
keep a hold of what I have learned and realized? I
hope so. I'm also a realist (who gets the irony of
writing about disconnecting on an online
platform), and whilst I can't ever see myself living
off the grid, I do think I can manage it better to
live a more sane and serene life.
 ~ Comprehension Questions ~
1. Where did the author of the article go for a
week?
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2. How would you best describe the term
“junkie”?
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3. What are some of the things the author did
while he was disconnected from the
internet?
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4. What were some of the physical and/or
mental changes that the author went
through during those seven days?
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5. What are some of the things the author
discovered after he turned his phone on?
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6. What is the difference in the author’s
attitude at the end of the article compared
to the beginning of the article?
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