Time offline

The secret to a happier life?

In 2017 I have a simple goal: Spend more waking hours across the week offline than online.

We’re in the midst of a cultural revolution brought by our ultra-connectedness via the internet, portable, even wearable devices that is having an untold effect on the human race and I for one want to start taking it a bit slower.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I want to spend more time offline doing activities that don’t involve staring at a glowing rectangle*

I wrote a list of things I enjoy doing that don’t involve the internet, mobile phones, laptops, TV’s or tech of any kind really.

Here are a few things that made the list:

• Cooking (I want to expand my repertoire, instead of looking at what you’re eating on Instagram, why don’t I just cook the damn thing? Plus family brownie points. Plus brownies!)
• Reading books, including more reading with my son (no banner ads, yay!)
• Helping my son with homework and other learning activities
• Going to the gym (I don’t have wearables so you can’t catch me out there)
• Playing in the park with my son (bonus exercise!)
• Playing family board games (we recently implemented a games night, lots of fun)
• Stroking my cat (I’ve actually realised how much I have kind of ignored him over the last couple of years)
• Walking to the corner shop (I am embarrassed to say I had taken to driving the short distance, I’m a bad human, I know)
• Visiting relatives (another thing I have neglected)
• Watch live event and my son’s school performances through my actual own eyes (parents reading this, you know what I mean)
• Going to the pub (“it’s to live a better life and to not constantly look at technology darling, trust me, this is a good thing” that’ll wash I’m sure)

Win — Win

When I look at the above list, I notice two things.

1. These are ALL simple activities I did before I had a mobile phone or a laptop / an internet worth spending time on.
2. They ALL have a positive impact on my life and others around me. (OK perhaps not the pub thing, but you get my drift.)

I’ve already began this process, and I feel it is having a positive impact on my son’s life. I’m not a child psychologist by any stretch but I understand the monkey see, monkey do theory. To have my son now go days (yes, DAYS) without picking up his iPad now, when it had become as glued to his side as my tech to mine is satisfying.

Is this the onset of an early millennial mid-life tech crisis? Or the path to a happier life?

*Thank you Michael Harris for that wonderful ‘glowing rectangle’ description, see ‘The End of Absence’ for more of that.