I guess it’s actually more than 60 days at this point. I did have a 30 day post that I never published (does that give everyone a sense of where my head has been?).

For the past 60 (or more) days I have been all over the place (and nowhere at the same time). I have succeeded in keeping my Instagram and Facebook accounts deactivated but have been unsuccessful with really focusing on the areas that I intended to concentrate on. I have been scattered and undisciplined. I don’t know if that can be directly correlated to my lack of social media connection or not enough distance from technology in general. (After all, I didn’t limit my access to the internet as a whole, and you know those game apps on the phone can eat up an hour pretty quickly.) Has my social media time been replaced by other digital “stuff”? Maybe a little bit.

I want to go with a different theory though. You know how when you come back from vacation, you often need a vacation from your vacation? Or when a person switches medications, they need sufficient time to get the previous medication out of their system? Or, let’s just say it, when a person has an addiction, there is a period of withdrawal? I want to equate these first 2 months to a kind of withdrawal. Let’s call each week a “step” in the process. Well, I have gotten (finally) to a point in the process where I am ready to take another important step. I have been contemplating a real disconnect, a real digital detox.

I have 30 more days, according to the timeline I initially set for myself, to keep my social media deactivated. One more month. For these last 4 weeks, I am going to limit my phone and computer use daily to one hour each morning before work and no more than 2 hours each evening after work (allowing for requisite computer access during the work day of course.) My phone is rarely out during the work day. I access it as needed to communicate with colleagues and students. I have seen it suggested that a person should shut off screens anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours before bedtime. I think I will push for 1 hour. There are some things that I use my phone and computer for including Bible reading and study, a couple of exercise programs, and some personal growth, learning, business, and study. The hour each morning and 2 hours each evening should allow for this. I would like this step to culminate in a 24-hour “no screen time” day right before my reactivation of social media (with the goal of perhaps doing this once a month as I go forward).

I don’t know. Once again, this will be an experiment. One thing is for sure, I am feeling a little more focused at this point (60 days in). I hope to see where this will take me.

In the end, this technology, overly-connected, knowing-when-to-shut down situation is truly what some may consider a “first-world” problem. I’d venture to say though, that it is becoming deeper than some may think. We’re all in an interesting position. One where we have to determine for ourselves “how much is too much.” We’re in the ultimate catch 22 – we need technology for so many things today, it has made many of our lives so much easier and solved a host of problems throughout the world. But it has become another thing that can negatively affect us – physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally.

Can we really find the balance?