My day without electricity

I’m a poor man.

I spend my days writing articles and blog posts for little to no money and I supplement it by working as a pet sitter/social media marketer/whatever little jobs will help me make rent.

One day my top-up electric meter ran out of money and I couldn’t afford to switch it back on. Thankfully this happened on payday’s eve.

I considered asking my girlfriend for a tenner to tide me over for the day, but being conscious of the hold technology has over me I decided to embrace the situation.

I tried to make breakfast but couldn’t light the stove because the ignition switch was dead.

I thought of holding a lighter in the gas stream but decided that would cause some sort of explosion and I quite liked my hand attached to my body.

I got around this by tearing off a section of a toothpaste box, lighting it at one end and holding it in the stream.

In the moment I felt a bit like Bear Grylls but all I’d done is light a flammable gas; hardly the survivalists’ patented flint, tinder and patience approach.

I’m not going to preach about how if everyone did this we could save the environment because it’s not a feasible goal.

We all care about the environment and there are other ways we can fix it without depriving ourselves of basic necessities.

The whole time I was aware that my electricity would be back the next day and was already planning how I was going to use it.

So, I’m not going to preach but I am going to give you an insight into what my unplanned detox day was like and if it sounds like something you’re into then go for it.

1. Exercised my cat

My cat only goes out at night after I’ve fallen asleep, the rest of the time she sticks to me like glue.

This is a problem because as a freelancer I spend most of my time in the house writing.

I decided a long time ago that she needs to spend more time outside and that to do this I had to venture out there myself.

Instead of spending the morning reading my magazines in front of the TV as I usually do, I read them in the back garden instead.

My cat followed me out there and had a great time chasing birds and failing to climb the big tree.

The detox gave me the push I needed and my cat now waits by the back door for me every morning ready for our little read and play sesh.

2. Improved my reading comprehension

When I read in my front room, I pay a third of my attention to reading and the other two thirds to whatever show I have on in the background.

It’s only natural for us to prioritise watching TV over reading because instead of having to turn the words on a page into images, the screen projects them straight into your eyes.

It does all the heavy lifting for you.

Even if I’m more interested in the book’s story than the TV show’s, it always wins the battle for my attention.

This all changed on detox day.

The option to prioritise modern systems of entertainment over books was gone and not only did I read more, I paid more attention to the details.

3. Helped me formulate new ideas

On detox day my phone was also out of commission.

It was 30% charged and without its alarm I wouldn’t be making it to work at 6am the next morning.

I disabled mobile data and activated the highly restrictive “battery saver mode”.

This meant I couldn’t check messages or mindlessly scroll through Twitter or Facebook.

After reading my magazines in the morning I sit down and start scribbling article ideas.

I usually get these by reading news articles on my phone and looking for new angles on the stories.

This was obviously impossible on detox day. Instead of cramming my head full of news to try and formulate a story idea, I came up with them organically.

I got chatting to a guy at my meditation class who told me you can volunteer for a week at a meditation retreat and get free board and food.

On the way home I thought about what he’d said and decided that going on a retreat and writing about the experience would be a great story idea.

I went to a charity shop on the way home from my meditation class, because it’d kill some detox time, and had a look at the books.

I realised I’d never read the work of all these famous authors and most people probably hadn’t either.

From that idea I created my blog, Culture Catch Up, where I review classic books, films and games for people like me who’ve never experienced them.

Oh and I came up with the idea for the article you’re reading right now!

I never would’ve come up with either of these ideas if I’d been checking my phone the whole time or if I’d rushed home to watch TV.

4. Worked on a new skill (joke writing)

I’ve always been interesting in writing jokes and one day, if I ever muster enough courage to crawl onto a stage, I’d like to do stand-up.

I once heard Drew Carey say he was awful at doing stand-up until he bought a cheap book on how to write jokes. So I decided to do the same.

I’d read a few exercises in the book but never gotten round to trying them out. Along came detox day and I decided to give one a go.

I followed the instructions and managed to write jokes for an hour straight and even though 80% of it was garbage, I was left with a few golden nuggets.

Just another example of doing something I should’ve done a long time ago but was always too distracted to do.

Conclusion

I read an article the morning of the detox which said that our current generation has lower intelligence than previous generations.

Scientists in Norway found that IQ scores rose by 0.3 points a year on average, hit a peak in 1975, and began to fall at a rate equivalent to seven points per generation.

The researchers speculated that the shift to screen based entertainment could be responsible for the change.

By the end of the detox I was convinced of this.

In the days following my detox I relied less on technology than I had before but as the week went on I started to slip back into old habits.

Hopefully by detoxing once a week I can keep reminding myself of its benefits and will learn to keep my reliance on technology to a minimum.

Even if you can’t do it for a whole day, do it for an evening after work, just to see what it’s like.

Free yourself from the world’s news, social media, endless hours of Netflix and video games.

Pay attention to the world around you and listen to your mind instead of drowning it out.

There’s a special freedom in it, trust me.