Digital Detox

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By Harriet Russell

Hello again beautiful readers.

I realise it has been a while since my last blog post. Truth be told, I have very recently emerged from a spell of ‘Digital detoxing’. Bonjour le monde!

Hibernating from social media

My winter of hibernation away from the pressures of social media has been a thing of beauty. It’s allowed me to focus on / simply enjoy being OK. (Apart from the Christmas debacle, but more on that another day!) Anyhoo, ‘You’re ok? Just ok? Not sure being “only ok” is worth being away from social media for a couple of months,’ ? I hear you say. Fair point. Let me elaborate.

After the rollercoaster journey and polar extremes of emotions over the past two years, me being ok and being able to carry out the smallest of everyday tasks (waking up, getting up, going outside, talking, able to go to sleep…) is and has been rather lovely. So this recent development of ‘being ok’ is something I’m delighted about. It’s been something that I’ve wanted to enjoy and give my undivided attention to. Hence, it has made sense to cut out the constant buzzing and pinging from Jiorgio. (Yes, my phone has a name, maybe I should get out more?! ?)

I marvel at technology, but…

I’m the first to marvel at technology, don’t get me wrong. I would quite frankly be lost if I couldn’t google stupid questions. Or ask Siri to set an alarm so I don’t burn things when I’m cooking. But being on my Digital Detox gave me such a feeling of relief at not having to deal with an endless stream of notifications. Or knowing that every time I was online people would know when and where it was and if I’d seen their message, leading them to question why I wasn’t replying….

In my defence, people who know me well enough know that I am sometimes (most of the time ?) useless at replying to messages, detox or no detox. It’s just a character flaw I have. I am however always reachable via pigeon post #highmaintenancemuch?! hehe

Losing sight of real life

Anyhoo, I can highly recommend a hiatus from social media?, if you can bear it. We live in a world where our gadgets are extra appendages to our bodies. And it can be so easy to get so swept up in what is happening on your screen that you lose sight of the life that is happening around you.

A few weeks back whilst I sat in the departure lounge of Paris Orly, every single person around me (bar one) was engrossed in the virtual world of a screen. This one other person and I who were in a tech free bubble struck up a conversation. It proceeded to flow throughout the duration of our flight, covering the topics of Churchill, Ancient Rome, olive oil making and parallel universes to name but a few topics. When we landed we went for coffee before going our separate ways into the Tuscan sunset.

Look up from time to time

My point? I shared a beautiful few hours with a stranger because, after all, that is life, it’s happening here and now around you. Not in a virtual reality on your screen. So look up from time to time, take a break from tech. Be in the moment and just live and enjoy your life for you, rather than trying to get the perfect pic to post for others to see. You never know what might happen.

With love and light.

H xo ?

Reproduced with permission, originally posted on herpineapplestory