Unplugged 2.0

So last November I posted about how I had took some unexpected time off from my blog and social media.  It was refreshing to take some time off away from living an online persona and just focus on my actual, real life.  Don’t get me wrong, I love interacting with people online… in fact, it’s how I talk to some of my siblings and cousins since we live in different states.  But I remembered that refreshing feeling I got from not using it, so I knew I’d want to take a break again.

For the record, no, I’m not taking break from my blog or anything… because I already did.

For the last two days of July I unplugged from technology entirely.  I forewarned my family and friends that I’d be doing this so if they needed to get in touch with me, they would know to contact my brother Sammy instead.

By “unplugging from technology” I mean from most modern technology – my laptop, phone,  television and video game systems – basically any type of technology that I could end up wasting a good part of my day with.  So I still used my iPod Shuffle for running, since it has no Internet capability.

So what did I do for two whole days without that kind of technology?

Well, I read quite a bit.  I finished reading Mockingjay since it’s been sitting on my desk for some time now… and I read Connor Franta’s book ‘A Work In Progress’ which I had borrowed from my brother Seth.

I also played a few board games when I wasn’t reading, so I’m now aware of how much fun you can actually have with board games, because after not playing them for a while I forgot they were.  I even got outside with my brother and a few friends to play some messy Twister (and bonus! I was able to check that off my 17 Before 17 list!).

And to top it off I spent some time helping out at my church, but not anything tech-related (which is how I usually volunteer there).

After two days without technology, I can say that I do feel pretty refreshed, but it’s not something I can do all the time.  I do think I can try to unplug for a longer period of time, only I’ll let myself make exceptions for work and phone emergencies.  I just so happened to be lucky enough to not have to work those two days and I didn’t need to use the phone for any reason.

So my questions is, have you ever ‘unplugged’ in any sort of way?