Our own kind of digital disconnect

I have posted about other people's experiences of having a digital detox including an excellent book The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart  that took the concept of a digital detox to the extreme with a 6 month disconnect. But until now it has all been other people's experiences, not any more! Almost by accident we experienced our own disconnect experiment in quite an unexpected way.
Now our annual 2 week sumer holiday has been technology free for many years so no laptop, no email, phones turned off except for me checking the answer machine once a day for messages. However this year was different. We rented a villa just outside Alcudia in Marjorca and we found ourselves even more disconnected than usual. 

Our villa in Marjorca

This was the first time we had rented a villa. In the past we had holidayed in hotels and had access to some UK TV so we kept in touch with world affairs and also there was an internet cafe in case of emergencies. Our villa provided us with our own retreat. Also our iPhones reverted to being just phones, all the usual clever things they do to keep us connected wherever we are, didn't work here. The TV in the villa was digital terrestrial and all the channels were in Spanish except for the Disney Channel during the day. So no news unless you could follow Spanish, which we couldn't. After just 2 days we were feeling very disconnected, even isolated, we had no idea what was going on in the world . It was almost like withdrawal symptoms. On the 3rd day we went out for newspapers. We managed to get The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail and we just devoured them from beginning to end. But it still felt quite 3rd party, no going on the internet to look at BBC News or being able to use Google Maps to help us navigate the maze of streets that made up the estate our villa was on.
However not all was bad, we talked, we played games, we reconnected as a family. At home we all use the internet and our various computers and smart phones as an integral part of our individual lives. That said we do eat together round the table at least once a day and we aim to have a 'sabbath' from Friday tea time to Saturday teatime with as little technology used as possible. But on holiday, especially this year in our retreat we really connected, all 4 of us chatting, playing volleyball in the pool, especially nice, as usually one of us absents themselves from family activities but on this holiday we were all together all of the time and it was brilliant.
So what was different? well no TV at all for starters, and no internet at all either. We may have been disconnected from the world but we were so much more connected to each other. Another factor for me was that my watch stopped on the plane on the way out and so I for one had no track of time and I became aware that I wanted to know what time it was to decide whether it was time to eat or go to bed. So instead I started to listen to my body and eat and sleep when it wanted to rather than follow some pre-determined schedule.
So will it last? well no not really, we all have come to depend on the internet and the digital world too much to disconnect ourselves permanently but it will definitely encourage us to keep our sabbath as clear as possible.

Simple thoughts on the Sabbath

Liz Hunter on the MediaNet site has posted a simple and thought provoking article on the importance of taking a break. She says....

Being frazzled is a badge of honour.  Most of the freelancers I know avoid booking holidays because they fear having to turn down a brilliant job, and they don't rest in the periods in between work because they are out touting for more!

As a freelancer I learnt the hard way that not having a holiday, in case a dream job came up, was a big mistake.

Now I book my summer holiday dates early in January and book and pay for a proper holiday which is a digital fast as well for 2 weeks. I tried one week so as not to take me out for too long but it isn't long enough. I find that I am only just winding down by the end of one week and if there is any significant travel too it really isn't long enough to do what a holiday should do.

My only concession is I check my answer phone every 48 hours and deal with any important calls but then the phone goes off again. My clients know this is what I do, they regularly ask earlier in the year when I am going to be on holiday so they can plan accordingly, and I send a global email out about a week before reminding everyone I will be away and my responses will be limited to checking my answer phone, but no emails, blogs tweets for two weeks.

Liz continues.....

As usual, the Bible has some pretty good advice on how to avoid burnout, and it's very straightforward.Take one day off a week. Really off. Complete downtime, family time, God time. I'm not sure it matters when we take it, just that we do. It should not be something we feel guilty about, as it was made for our good, not the other way around (Mark 2:27), but we can't go too long avoiding something God designed us to need.

As to a sabbath, that is more of a challenge. As a family we take a Jewish sabbath, from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday, as being involved in church as both Sally & I are, means that Sunday is rarely a day of rest! However maintaining a digital fast is more of a challenge, although it does remain an aim. I do love Rob Bell's description of the Sabbath and as we often see on school reports "must try harder!"