Things I Did on my Device Free Evening

One of the (many) stress inducing things I wanted to be free from this month was devices. I committed to ditching all technology, my phone and laptop, from 11pm at night in my last post. But then I decided to go one further and give them up for one whole evening.

From 5:30pm I ditched my laptop and my phone and spent the whole evening doing things other than surfing the web, binge watching TV shows, and checking my phone for replies.

Here's what I did on my device free evening:

+ Went to the pharmacy

+ Put on laundry

+ Put out the bins

+ Took blog photos

+ Made Dinner
+ Made my bed

+ Cleaned my bedroom

+ Finished my book

+ Had a bath

+ Planned outfits for the weekend

+ Wrote a blog post (on paper of course)

+ Worked on my scrapbook

+ Added to my Bucket List

+ Painted my nails

It's safe to say, I was more productive than ever, and I felt that I was finally achieving something with my post-work evening.

Unplugged : Be Free from Devices

Considering you are currently reading my online blog I'm guessing that you are like me - you just can't get enough of technology. Not just the internet, but phones, tablets and laptops. They rule our lives. My phone is the first thing I check in the mornings and the last thing at night. When I can't get to sleep I take back out my phone and scroll through my social media news feeds.

Social Media brings it's own difficulties when it comes to looking after our mental health. I've written before about how social media made me miserable when I was depressed. It was horrible to have to scroll through posts from people boasting about their ‘perfect’ lives. I couldn’t understand why everyone was living happy lives when I wasn’t. I had nothing else to do but be on Facebook every evening. It was all-consuming and utterly devastating. Don't get me wrong, it is possible to have a healthy relationship with social media and the online world; but it's not always possible to foster a positive attitude when you have a mental illness.

But my evenings are short, and I'm tired of spending my few free hours tied to my computer, often getting frustrated because the internet has stopped working again. And so it has become part of my Be Free resolution this month - to be free from devices.