Two Weeks Without A Smartphone
I recently completed a two-week retreat at home where I was disconnected from the online world: no internet, no computer, no TV, no smartphone.
No tech devices with the exception of my kindle and a dumb phone for calls and ocassional texts.
The idea occurred to me a week prior while I was taking a shower, and I remember feeling so excited (and scared at the same time) that I knew I had to do it.
The point of the retreat was not complete isolation - I still wanted to remain connected to close friends and to the city, but in a way that was hopefully richer, deeper and more meaningful.
I knew I'd have plenty of time on my hands, and my goal was to spend it reading, writing and exploring the city I now call home.
These two weeks turned out to be some of the best and happiest I've had while in Toronto.
Preparation:
It took me two days to fully commit to the idea. Here is a somewhat exhaustive list of how I prepared to go two weeks without an internet connection:
- Informed anyone that might need to reach me that I wont be available through our regular communication channels (primarily Whatsapp), but that I was reachable anytime via calls/sms.
- Bought a dumb phone with very limited functionality. It would only be useful for calling and texting. Unboxing it felt nostalgic. It brought memories of times past when technology was simple.
- Added the books I intended to read to my kindle.
- Paid rent a few days early.
- Printed out recipes for meals I intended to cook during the retreat.
- Ordered two weeks worth of groceries via Instacart.
- Noted any upcoming reminders and calendar events on a physical notebook.
- Completed a couple of high priority, high urgent tasks on my todo list. These were tasks that could not wait two weeks. They included finalizing accomodation booking for an upcoming trip to Europe.
- Started slowly disconnecting from the online world in the preceding days before D-Day - so no TV or mindless surfing during the ~ three days preceding the retreat, in order to prepare myself psychologically for what I anticipated would be a difficult first few days.
- Dropped off all my tech-devices at a friends'. From then on I knew there was no going back (the idea of backing out had occurred to me multiple times in the days preceding the retreat, but now I was fully committed to going all the way)
A typical day:
It was important to me that I maintain a regular schedule. I was especially cognizant of maintaining a normal sleep-wake cycle, as I knew the retreat would be incredibly difficult if my sleep schedule somehow got messed up. On a typical day, I would:
- wake up at around 7 or 8 am, do yoga, shower and get breakfast
- read for a few hours at home
- go for a walk in the afternoon and maybe try to find an interesting coffee shop I could read from
- dinner at home at around 6pm
- journal
- read for a few more hours
- go to bed at around 11pm
For exercise, I went running in my building's gym twice a week, and went climbing twice a week.
I also caught a few movies in theater during my retreat. I watched The Drama, AI Doc, Palestine 36 (with a friend), Hoppers, and You, Me & Tuscany.
Books I read:
Books in bold are those that I found extremely captivating and had a hard time putting down even for a minute. Books denoted with a DNF are those that I started but did not finish:
- Nuclear War: A Scenario - Annie Jacobsen
- The Three Body Problem (Rememberance of Earth's Past, #1) - Liu Cixin
- Default: The Landmark Court Battle Over Argentina's $100 Billion Debt Restructuring - Gregory Makoff
- What If: Serious Scientific answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions - Randal Munroe
- The Invisible Life of Addie Larue - V.E.Schwab
- Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find and Keep Love - Amir Levine
- Hell Yeah or No: What's worth doing - Derek Sivers
- Same as Ever (DNF) - Morgan Housel
- Steve Jobs (DNF) - Walter Isaacson
- The Boyfriend - Freida McFadden
- Never Lie - Freida McFadden
Final Thoughts:
Overall I think my retreat was a success. I felt a sense of curiosity and excitement about little things, and it reminded me of the child-like curiosity I had when I was younger. The silence and solitude was a great canvas for my thoughts - I found it easy to reason about certain thoughts and ideas until I came to a satisfactory conclusion. Most times, however, I simply just watched my thoughts as they flowed in and out of my mind with the deliberate choice of remaining impervious to whatever came to mind.
It was wonderful to be free from the chatter of the online world. While a couple of days in the beginning were difficult, I mostly felt present, grounded and connected to my immediate surroundings throughout the retreat.
I'm feeling grateful for the opportunity to have been able to do this, and would certainly do it again in the future.