It's Just Abbey

Last weekend I went on my annual camping trip. This wasn’t hyper-rustic camping per say but it was getting away from the world. We went to Skinkfest in Bainbridge, Ohio. Sounds a lot like Skankfest doesn’t it? Yeah. Also, I kept calling the town Brainsville and was on constant surveillance for zombie attacks.

Anyway, I vowed to allow myself no technology all weekend except my trusty camera. I didn’t want to deal with anyone all weekend and just wanted to get away. We parked the Jeep and I threw my Blackberry into the glove box. Easy as pie right?

Wrong.

It wasn’t really tough at first until I realized how much I rely on my phone just in passing. If I get bored, I surf the net. If I do something awesome, I tweet about it. If I think of a random Scrubs quote, I text the only other person on earth who still quotes Scrubs. I also use my phone as an alarm for the morning and also for taking my vitamins and such. I also check my call logs constantly because I am a paranoid freak. If I walk away from my phone for two seconds, I am going to miss a call from my mother saying she was on a plane with the whole family that is now crashing and they were calling to say goodbye.

And yes, I am always this dramatic. It’s exhausting.

As the hours wore on I started to forget about my pesky little phone and the internet. I stopped having the thought, “I should tweet this” every 30 seconds. I felt so relaxed. I was out with my boyfriend, surrounded by a bunch of new people to meet and talk to and was happy as a clam. It was liberating to go almost 3 whole days without worrying about my phone beeping and flashing. I took in nature and the simplicity of it all and felt myself actually relax.

Now, as a girl I am a casual reader of Cosmopolitan. If you trudge through all the calorie counting and the predictable “50 ways to have an orgasm” articles they actually have some interesting things to say. The last few issues I’ve skimmed through have mentioned turning off your phone for an hour or two for the purpose of stress relief. That sounds like a wonderful idea but I don’t think that one hour is enough and two is cutting it close. After the weekend I had I would suggest 3 hours minimum or an entire evening.

You can diligently watch the clock for two hours or just catch a movie without so much as glancing at your phone or computer. Having your mind preoccupied for one activity isn’t enough. Three hours is enough time to watch a movie, take an open ended nap, cook yourself some food or just take a walk. All these things you can do without reaching for your technology as soon as you are done. Going off the grid for a while evening is also just as fun. Shutting off your world and just spending the night by yourself. Simply unwinding and reading or taking a long bubble bath and listening to some killer music. Or you could go out with friends or family for the evening and leave your phone in the car. Encourage whoever you are with to do the same. It would be a night of yours and their full attention. Something that is severely lacking in this day and age.

Be warned, I am not implying that you should just shut off your phone and stop start kicking back now. At least warn a few people. I know if I hadn’t told my mother she couldn’t reach me for three days she would have freaked out and wondered what ditch I was laying in dead. Yes, this dramatic nature is learned behavior. I believe one of my favorite lines about texting was on the Bill Engvall show. The daughter is grounded from her phone and states, “In about three hours the phone company will notice I haven’t texted anyone and they’ll think I’m dead.”

I am a tech geek through and through. I have enough gadgets in my purse to hold me up in airport security for a long time. I love the internet and I love my social media sites. But every now and then, stepping away from the high speed pace of the Information Age is necessary. Take a deep breath and enjoy simplicity. It’s a wonderful vacation.

Plus when you turn your phone back on, it makes you feel kinda special when you have a lot of messages waiting for you. And that’s a good feeling.