I love my phone. It’s practically suctioned to the palm of my hand and goes everywhere with me; from bed to bathroom (I prop it up against the windowsill and watch videos as I shower – addicted much, eh?). Although I do find that I’m pretty good at detaching from it in the evenings as I like to leave it in another room when we’re watching TV or having dinner. I still find myself reliant on it though, whether it’s just for a bit of background noise or to have a little hormonal cry at a cute proposal video that someone shared on Facebook.

In the past I’ve given myself timed tests to see whether I could survive without it and sure enough when the two hour mark ticked round I was gagging to have a scroll again. I could do it, but I didn’t enjoy it. So this past Sunday I set myself a task – to spend 24 hours tech-free and make the most of it – that meant no phone, laptop or TV, only a camera to vlog my experience. Have a scroll down below to watch the end result, but here I thought I’d share the notes I made on the day. Here’s how the 24 hours went…

MORNING. The night before I turned my phone off and left it tucked away in my drawer, so I woke up at 9am without an alarm (DREAMY!). I looked at the time and then without my phone to scroll through to get the juices flowing I fell back asleep for another hour. I can’t quite tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing? But at least I woke up feeling refreshed. I weirdly felt nervous though. A little panicky that I wouldn’t be able to get through the day without cheating. Before the experiment I felt like it would be a piece of cake and proudly told all my friends of my grand plans, but when it actually came to the big day, I felt slightly apprehensive about the whole thing. I ended up having breakfast in bed whilst reading a magazine and then busied myself doing chores around the flat.

AFTERNOON. I’d cheated a little bit and had pre-planned to spend the afternoon at my parents. Out of all the things I did on my tech-free day, I’d say that this move was pretty genius. When you’re around other people you forget you’re even on this self-imposed ban. I spent time catching up with my Grandparents, my Aunty, my Uncle and my parents and a couple of hours went in the blink of an eye (and a couple of mouthfuls of homemade cake). When things quietened down round there, I had a bath (BATHS + READING MATERIAL = THE DREAM), my Mum cooked me dinner and afterwards we all played Scrabble and my parents let me win – thanks rents!. By the time I made it home it was about 9pm and I hadn’t even thought about my phone once. What phone? 

EVENING. This is where the temptation got pretty strong. I felt like I’d made it so far that I’d practically ticked off the 24 hours (almost). Thankfully my willpower kicked in and after a drawn-out skincare routine and half an hour or so of reading my magazine, I was completely conked out. Knackered in fact. Which was strange because I hadn’t had the most exhausting of days, nor was I forcing myself to sleep just because I wanted the following morning to come round. Perhaps the detox wore me out? Gave me a chance to relax in a way that I quite honestly haven’t in years?

THE MORNING AFTER. Whatever the case I slept like a log. Seriously so amazing and I woke up the next day feeling really refreshed. It was a great way to start a Monday (Note to self: do more digital detoxes on a Sunday). I spoke in the video about my apprehension at turning on my phone again, but aside from a couple of emails and WhatsApp’s, there really wasn’t that much to report. So much for the avalanche of notifications I was expecting! What a Bobby big head. I’m taking that as a silver lining that actually, should I choose to do it again – which I plan too – the next day is almost as good as the detox. I felt less reliant on my phone, didn’t have too much to respond to and felt pretty bloomin’ awesome. Digital detoxes FTW.

Photos by Lauren Shipley

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