HAVING A TECHNOLOGY FREE DAY

These days technology is everywhere, its unavoidable and many of us live our lives through technology. You’ve only got to step on a train or a bus or the tube and what you’ll find is a carriage full of people locked into the small world of technology held within their hands. The tablet, the kindle, the i-phone they are the new newspapers, the new books and the new cinemas. It’s where we find everything we need and we have become very dependent upon them. Could you imagine a day without your phone, your email, and your computer? The answer is probably no.

There was an attendee on our Journey to Mastery programme this year, who came in distraught one session because they had lost her i-phone. A whole week with no access to that virtual world that these technologies allow us into and they were at a loss as to what to do. It started me thinking, what would we do if we gave up technology for just one day? Have we become so dependent on it that we can’t?

It’s an interesting thought.

Now I go on Facebook quite regularly and recently I’d noticed that it had crept into my life more than I’d like it to have. I found myself checking it in between my work tasks, and whereas before maybe I went online once a day I would find myself checking numerous times in one day. So I’ve decided to give myself a break from it for a while, and what I’ve noticed is that I have a lot more time to get things done! I am also having better conversations with my friends and family than I have before. It’s only been a week but I’ve really noticed the difference.

Let us look at technology in the workplace. Now we are inundated with emails in our inbox everyday I don’t know many people who get less than 50 emails a day in their inboxes at work. There is an overload of information, but not much real communication going on. When you look at the research into communication the majority of communication (65%+) is got through physical signals, and just 7% of communication comes through the written word alone. So that is a 93% chance of a miscommunication by just using the written word alone, and yet, most of us now rely on that written communication as our primary way of contacting others whether it be by text or by email.

There’s another side to technology, the fact that it drains our energy. I don’t know many people who are energised by being at their computer terminal all day. I don’t know many people who after a 30minute foray on Facebook feel ‘raring to go’. So when we are all feeling under pressure and are tired and stressed, perhaps a day without technology might just allow us to recharge and regain our energy?

My belief is that the world around us IS a place of abundance. It is designed so that it can feed us energetically. When you look at small children they know absolutely how to interact with the world so that it feeds them. They use all their senses so that the world becomes a place of adventure, fun and fulfilment. So why don’t we see if we too can tap into the wonder of the world without technological interference?

As most of you will know at Meta we talk about ‘filling your fuel tank’. We talk about the fact that most of us right now are running our own internal energy fuel tanks on empty and we need to top them up. My suggestion is that by just taking one day a week away from technology, you can top up your fuel tank more fully.

Now technology is all around us, its impossible to have a technology free day at work these days, but we could control our home environment. If you didn’t have your phone, your computer, your tablet, your kindle, your TV for one Saturday or Sunday, what would life be like? What would you do? Think about it for a moment.

If the world is a place of abundance, if it is set up to feed you and energise you, what could you do in that day to refill your fuel tank and get yourself ready for the week of work that is ahead? Remember when Sundays were a day of rest? Maybe that was for a reason! So how about we go back to a time when we got out into nature, talked more, interacted with the world more, became more involved IN the world rather than escaping the world.

The world is a big place. Vast in fact, why not tap into the potential and energy that it provides? Why not have one day a week having adventures and having fun? A day free from technology – a day of love, laughter and joy. A day reconnecting with the world, and reconnecting with those we love.

The festive period is all about reconnecting and remembering. So take just one day to refill your fuel tanks, to get them full to the brim, to get excited about life again, to just go and have FUN. We think you deserve that.

Have a wonderful festive period all of you,

With love,

Jo and Di xxx

 

 

About Jo Clarkson

Jo Clarkson is the CEO of Meta and a frequent writer of the Meta-Org.com blog.

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