Tuesday 22 July 2014

Internet Blackout

Inspired by this post (I know I'm talking about her again it's not creepy I swear) last week me and my cousin/roommate Keri went on internet blackout.  At 7:00PM we turned off our phones and closed down our computers and nothing bad happened? If you asked either of my parents they would tell you that I am addicted to my phone/computer and they bug me about it constantly when we're together.  Even when I'm watching TV I'm on my phone or computer for the entire time just repeatedly checking all my social networks for absolutely no reason.

I might have a small problem...
We didn't limit ourselves to no TV because I think we might have actually lost our minds (maybe we'll work up to it?) and about 13 minutes into blackout we honestly questioned how long we were going to make it.  Luckily I had prepared accordingly and had copied down my favourite mug brownie recipe in advance so we microwaved some brownies, popped 24 into the DVD player and sucked it up.  It took about a half hour to adjust but after that it honestly wasn't that bad.  Instead of being constantly stimulated by the phone or the computer I felt like I was able to relax a bit more and even though we were only watching TV we were more engaged in what we were doing and interacted with each other more.  There was a moment after our episode ended where I was lying face down on the floor and Keri was bouncing a tennis ball off my back but hey at least we were interacting with each other instead of on our phones right?

I honestly think that not being on my phone/computer all night up until I went to bed allowed me to fall asleep faster which was nice because I have been struggling with sleep lately.  I've even started trying (though not always succeeding) to limit my phone use even when we're not doing blackout to see what kind of effect that would have on my sleep schedule especially on nights where I work late and need to wind down quickly to try to get enough sleep.  We've done blackout a few more times since that first night and I'm thinking of making it a more regular thing (maybe just on weekdays or nights where we're both home), with that much time off the internet think of how many books I could read!

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