I just finished doing 48 hours without internet in aid of Cancer Research UK. Here are the things that I learnt during this time.
1. It is ok to use the internet sometimes
I often feel bad that I use the internet as much as I do. I think that I should be doing other things instead. However, I have realised that it is ok to use the internet. It is ok to spend time on social media, post things and talk to others, as long as you are not spending too long on there or spending time on social media or accounts that make you feel bad about yourself.
2. Without internet you can relive some good old times
Not having access to internet 24/7 reminded me of when I was younger and we literally did not have access to internet 24/7. We had to spend our time in other ways. The one activity that I spent most of my time doing was playing video games. I used to love spending time playing the same game over and over again and a lot of the games I never even completed because they were too difficult for me but it was still a lot of fun! Without internet, I actually played a couple of games that I had been thinking of playing for a while, without distraction. I could fully immerse myself in the game and in that moment. No muting the sound to watch a video at the same time, no pausing the game to check social media and it was good.
3. Without internet you can have time to think
So I thought the most difficult thing about not having access to the internet would be not having a distraction for when I don’t feel great mentally or physically but I found that if I needed a distraction I could watch tv or focus on what I wanted to do. However, I actually had time to think and, this is not very often but it was a good thing. I got to think about what I want to spend my time doing and how I want to grow my work further. It helped me to see what I actually want to do and what is important to me.
4. The internet doesn’t affect my productivity as much as I thought it would
I thought that the internet really reduced my productivity, I’m on it so much of the time. However, I found that my work productivity pretty much stayed the same and my free time activity increased a little but not as much as I thought it would. I thought that without internet I would get double the number of things done as I would have achieved with internet but this was not the case. Therefore, I know that I am ok with how I spend my time, as long as I focus on doing what I really enjoy and don’t spend too long online.
5. My interests may have changed and that’s ok
For a while, I have felt a struggle to do all of the things that I used to love, for example, gaming and crafting. I thought that this was entirely my lack of motivation due to my mental health but I am starting to realise that my interests have changed. I no longer feel like playing video games in all of my spare time or spending hours doing sewing projects. Not to say that I don’t want to do these things at all, but just not as often as I used to. With no access to internet, I ended up listening to old music on my IPod and colouring in my Harry Potter colouring book that I had slightly forgotten owning and it was nice. I had trouble concentrating on some things and this is partly due to issues with my motivation and concentration, especially in relation to having trouble reading, particularly when I am in a reading slump like I have been experiencing lately. However, I now realise that how I really want to spend my time has changed and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
So these are the things that I learnt from having no internet for 48 hours. Although there were times when I wanted to go online to look things up or to talk to people, I am glad that I had this experience. It really helped me to understand myself a bit better and made my focus clearer. Would you ever do an internet detox?
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