Joshua’s Cape Rants, raves and insights from the kid who loved his cape.

The Great Digital Detox

I was driving home from work the other night, enjoying the way Phoenix smells during Spring. The whole city smells like orange blossoms. It was about 70 degrees and I had my windows down and the classic rock station turned up loud.

I usually drive with the windows up and the music quiet, for various reasons. I thought gee if I'd done what I usually do tonight, I'd have missed out on the simple pleasure of the wind in my face and the awesome smell of spring. Such a small thing, but such a wonderful thing. Little things like that are what make life worth living.

I started wondering what else I'm missing. What am I too distracted to enjoy and see and notice and consider? I also realized that I spend almost 14 hours every day in front of a bright, glowing screen. That's when I decided I needed to detox. Digitally.

I wish I could say I'd coined the term (and prior to getting home and Googling it, I thought I had) but the folks at AdBusters beat me to it.

What it means is a complete cutting off of your digital life. Just for 7 days.

No iPhone, no Facebook, no Twitter, no Google, no email, no texts. Just phone calls and face to face interaction. You know, that thing people did before the world became so dependent on the computing box.

I asked my fiancee when I got to her house last night 'Honey, I'm thinking about doing a Digital Detox. Whaddya think?' She gave me her trademark eyebrow which says 'I'm going to regret this, but continue.'

'No no honey it's good! I'll turn my phone off for a week and just read and reconnect with the world!'

She wasn't amused.

She pointed out that I have the attention span of a housefly and it was very unlikely that I'd really be able to stick to this thing.

I said 'Yeah that's the problem isn't it, I can't go 45 seconds without checking my email or updating Facebook!'

So I decided it was impractical to cut out my phone, since I need to communicate at least with the woman I'm marrying, if no one else. So I'm dropping the iPhone for 7 days and using an old slider phone. It calls, and it texts. That's it. And I won't be texting.

Why? Why do such a thing? What's the point?

Well, there are several reasons.

1. I realized, like I said earlier, that I could be missing much more than I realize. Cutting these simple distractions out will allow me to completely focus on the world around me, not the one inside my phone.

2. Sometimes I get so distracted with the digital things, that I don't make enough time to study the Word, or to talk to God. Just to commune with Him. How much more time will I have if I don't have any other choice? What am I missing out on by not entering into daily, real relationship with God? This will allow me to propel into a deeper connection and rekindle my focus on Him and Him alone.

3. Why not? It's a fast like any other, and this is one that will cut out something so basic, so ubiquitous, who knows what I'll see by cutting it out.

Goals

I think it's pretty stupid to jump into anything like this without some solid goals. If I just do it for the sake of doing it, I'm wasting my time. So I've set some goals for myself.

1. Get to know my King again.

That means spending time with Him exclusively. Not with Him as long as my phone isn't going off, or as long as I've checked my Twitter feed recently.

2. Notice things I've been missing.

This one is kind of out of my control. It's more something I'll be praying for. I hope to see somethings that I have been missing. I want this to be eye-opening.

3. Reprioritize

I want the silly things in life to become faded into the background and the important things to become even more apparent than they are now.

4. I want a break from technology.

It's pretty hard to break away from the tech world when you work in it. I'm not going to be able to avoid using my computer and work email while at work. But I won't be reading the tech blogs I frequent. When it's slow, I'll read my Bible.

I'm tired of staring at screens all day. It can't possibly be good for my eye(s) anyway.

The Rules

Starting Sunday night and for 7 days thereafter, I'll be decommissioning the iPhone and plugging my SIM card into an old Samsung slider. I will not be texting. So be warned, if you text me, I won't be texting back that week.

I will only use my computer at work for work. No IM, no random tech blogs, no Google Reader, no Gmail, no Google Calendar, nothing.

I will take phone calls. That's the new 'old-school' way of communicating. Sure, I could go all uber-hardcore and write letters or something, but no one would get them before the fast was over anyway.

Follow along!

It's going to be hard. I'm definitely a techno-junkie.

I'm going to encourage our College Group to join me for the week. Anyone else who's interested, let me know in the comments before Sunday night and I'll put you on the list to be praying for while I'm 'detoxing.'

I'll also be writing (with a pen and paper) a blog post each day. I will post them in order next week. So expect a week of silence, then 7 consecutive posts from the detox week.

It can't possibly be a bad idea. More prayer and more time with God is never a bad thing.