I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about the importance of workout music and staying motivated to workout on a regular basis and those are both very important things, but I want to take today to tell you about an experiment I conducted over the weekend.
On Friday afternoon, around 5p, I sent my final e-mail, hit the shut-down button on my computer, shut off the power strip and walked away. I was vowing to myself to have an internet free weekend.
Why?
I have come to the realization that my personal sanity is in jeopardy when I rely too heavily on the internet. I find myself tweeting while talking to my wife. I might be checking my Facebook friends at the dinner table to see what they are up to. Simply put, I am WELL connected and that’s important in this age of faster then light information, but sometimes it’s nice to step away and be connected to the people around you.
That’s what I did this weekend.
Don’t get me wrong, it was hard. Only using my iPhone for phone calls? Not as easy as it might sound. No chance to Google Michael Cera and see what movie he first starred in while watching Youth In Revolt (short movie review: don’t see it, it wasn’t funny.) I didn’t have the shakes or fiend for the Internet too much, but it wasn’t easy.
But, it was NICE.
I spent most of this weekend chatting, cooking, playing video games and going to the movies with my wife and ONLY my wife. We weren’t buried in our phones wondering what our long lost friend from high school had for dinner or checking Twitter for the Top 10 ways to stay healthy in a down economy, we were focused on US.
Just one point of clarity, we have a lot of US time, so it’s not unusual for us to spend a whole weekend enjoying each others company, but it is rare, when it is uninterrupted by the technology that surrounds us. This weekend, it was uninterrupted and it was wonderful.
The other funny thing about this whole experiment is that when I got back to work this morning I had 60 e-mails in my inbox, you know how many required my attention? FIVE. That’s right, five out of sixty needed my attention and TWO of those were family members.
Did I miss anything over the weekend that happened online? Maybe. But I found the one thing I had been missing for a while, my sanity and that is worth every Top 10 list on Twitter and friend update on Facebook.
I know it’s unrealistic for me to disconnect every weekend, but I am resolving to take one weekend a month in 2010 to disconnect and regain my sanity in life.
About the Author:Adam De Young Founder of Turnupmyworkout After losing 110lbs., I started Turnupmyworkout to share my secrets with you on how to achieve weight loss and keep it off. Through the power of the best workout music, I suggest the right mix of music for your workout intensity level. Every month, you recieve a new playlist to keep you on track to reach your weight loss goals. http://www.turnupmyworkout.com http://www.facebook.com/turnupmyworkout http://www.twitter.com/turnupmyworkout
