Last week’s newsletter elicited many positive responses. Thank you for sharing your struggles with balancing the use of techno-media.
Personally, I found it remarkably challenging to pull back from unbridled emailing and news snacking. But at the same time, that very difficulty only reinforced my hunch that this is something that would dramatically improve the quality of my time if I were only able to do it.
So… I’ve been thinking of how to tweak the path towards greater freedom from internet reliance.
Nudging the Un-plug, two simple practices.
- For a day or two, keep an index card by your computer and simply make a slash by the day’s date to record how many times you check email that day. (I was horrified to see my number of dashes exceed a dozen). This exercise may be enough to nudge you towards cutting back, but it may simply raise awareness around default email compulsiveness.
- For a day or more, pick between two to four established times when you will check email, and stick to that schedule. Notice again what feelings arise in resistance to the schedule. Bring mindfulness to those very feelings and observe their energy.
Remember, these are exercises, not mandates. They are ways of creating opportunites to foster greater presence and connection with life.
I welcome your feedback and ideas on how to practice with technology… it’s a very rich field for investigation.
Originally published on September 8, 2010