The 24-hour Retreat - Five Revelations from a Day Without Devices
If there was a way to become a calmer, more balanced you in one day, would you do it?
A great majority of our everyday bustle in today’s hyper-connected world stems from our devices. So we, here at Quiet Social Club, felt that’s a good place to start to bring back a bit of calm into our lives.
If you have unsuccessfully tried screen-time apps, or if you’re still on Instagram first thing in the morning, don’t worry, you are part of the majority. But since you’re entertaining the thought of joining us for a day away from to-dos, emails and notifications, you already know that you can do better. So let’s see what miracle insights turning off your phone for a day (or so) can yield.
Not everything needs a response immediately
We’ve all been there: Working on something deeply focused. Depending on who you are, it could be a preview with your boss’s latest, an email from a supplier messaging about a shipping delay, or it could also be as innocent as “Check out the latest winter wear”, or “We have added new songs to your playlist!”. No matter what it is, most of us grab our phones to check, finding our attention and focus interrupted.
This is happening to you multiple times a day, every day. In a constantly connected world, it is easy to fall into the trap of interruptions and, worse, to get used to it.
At Quiet Social Club, we have tried everything from “opening hours” to “do not disturb” mode, and we can tell you: Whether it is 20 minutes, 1 hour or a day (our personal favourite), putting our devices aside makes us emerge a calmer friend, partner or parent.P.S: Worried you might miss out on your day away? Let your friends know that you are not reachable for some part of the day and tell them about your experience.
You don’t need to look up half of what you think you need to
Today, all knowledge is available to us at the press of a button. This is a miracle. But it has conditioned us to want to check absolutely everything, immediately. That includes items that really do not need to be checked, things that we could check later, and things that might just solve themselves in the meantime.
A day away from our devices can make magic happen: When you cannot immediately reach for your phone to follow up on anything and everything that comes into mind, only the one or two things you absolutely need to look up will remain. Most often, nothing will remain.
You will be surprised to find that most urges fade or become outdated. Your day offline will show you that we have the power to decide when we want to follow up on something and we have the power to “tame” our monkey mind.
Solitude is not the same as loneliness
It’s understandable: The word “solitude” does not necessarily scream heart-bursting fun, Champagne corks popping and a choir of angels singing “Hallelujah”. Really, it sounds boring at best, scary at worst. But solitude actually just means “being without other people”. Sounds pretty basic, right?
Being alone does not immediately equate to loneliness, and whether you call yourself an extrovert or an introvert, we all need some me-time. Taking this time is an empowering choice if you start to view it as you taking charge of your life.
Constructive boredom is underrated
If you’re halfway through your device-free day and you’re feeling bored, or wondering what people do if they’re not checking their phones, this is good. You’re reaping the benefits of your day away. The reason you don’t like boredom is because our world does not like boredom. Boredom is equated with idleness and laziness. Boredom, to many, is being alone and having nothing to do, whilst your friends are out having a blast. But what you didn’t know is that boredom is one of the most important sources of creativity and invention.
In a world that is constantly connected, we need boredom more than ever. We need the kind of boredom you experience waiting for your friend in a restaurant who is an hour late. We need the kind of boredom that makes you draw on napkins instead of scrolling on your phone. We need the kind of boredom where a conversation strikes up with a stranger, because your phone just ran out of charge on a train. Feel bored today! Cherish the opportunities it brings with it!
A day is much longer than you thought
One of the most profound realisations we experienced was that without phones or people around us, a day suddenly becomes much longer. For all of you who are spending most of their days working in an office or a laptop remotely, this should come as the revelation of the century. Turn your phone off, take a day away from commitments (and people if you feel like it), and you will find that 24 hours can fit a whole book, a new cooking technique, a very long walk, a nap, a long meditation, some yoga and a few hours just lying on the grass watching the clouds pass by.
Our #mydayaway program started from a simple thought: Shutting off our phones for a bit can create the space we need to reconnect to ourselves and the life we want to live, i.e. produce miracles.
