with Britt Reints
Forget the 9 to 5; Full Time, All the Time is a blog about the mobile working life - when you have the freedom to work from anywhere and the responsibility of always having your smartphone turned on. Britt Reints works as a freelance writer while traveling fulltime in an RV with her husband and two kids. She explores balancing real-life bills with an unconventional work life, and finding time to maintain relationships with family and friends.
You can also find Britt at InPursuitOfHappiness.net.
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I think we all know – or at least have been told once or twice – that unplugging now and then is a good thing . Step away from the screens, the email, the Wi-Fi signal, and the 4G network and just… be. Be in the moment , be with your loved ones, be on your own without the constant net of technology. It sounds blissful, but being able to actually do it has proven virtually impossible in my real life. I think I’ve found the solution, however: I need to buy a watch.
I haven’t worn a watch in about five years, which is about how long I’ve owned an iPhone. My smart phone, which magically syncs up to the world clock, is more reliable than any hand-set watch I’d ever wear, and it never forgets to fall back or spring forward. This means, however, that I can’t leave my house without my phone, because I don’t have a back up timekeeper. A watch, I’m certain, would make it easier for me to finally unplug.
Although, I’m not sure what I’d do about emergencies. As a parent, it seems irresponsible to go anywhere without my cell phone. If I leave my kids behind I need to be able to be reached should something happen to them. If they are with me, I need to be able to call for help should something happen to them. Maybe I could unplug if I take my kids with me and buy a flare gun.
A watch and a flare gun are what I need to finally unplug.
Of course, I’d have to buy a map, too. I think they still sell them in gas stations; I haven’t bought one since before I wore a watch. I can find out where I am, where I’m going, and where the closest McDonalds or hospital is with swipe of the screen on my phone. But it would be no problem to buy a map, and I don’t need to be able to find fastfood while I’m unplugging.
So, a watch, a flare gun, and a map are all I need to finally unplug.
It’s starting to sound like I’m packing for a trek into the wilderness.
I don’t want to isolate myself from civilization; I just want to tone down the constant connectivity. I just want to be able to leave my house without feeling like I’m missing a limb if I leave my phone behind. I want to not feel compelled to check my email because I’m standing in line. I want to try finding my way by asking directions from a stranger and looking for familiar landmarks. But I’m not sure that level of simplicity is still possible in today’s high-tech world. I don’t even own a device that can just tell time or call home, and I can no longer imagine walking around without being able to perform at least those two basic functions.
I’m sure someone warned us this would happen. I’m not so sure what to do about it now.
Great read and very true not just for parents, I’ve started to use the DND function on my phone but it still scares me. How wrong is that!
Lee | February 18th, 2013 at 9:26 am
I think it’s more the conscious decision, to put the phone back into your purse, or pocket, and look up/around, then to really leave it behind. Because we used to get by, leaving home without a cell phone of any sort - but many of the payphones we used to use to check in with our kids when we were out for extended periods have been taken down, so the world has changed to make not having a cell phone of some sort available to us - irresponsible, as you said. But I navigate all over the place by printing a map before I leave, and I set alarms so I don’t have to necessarily pull out my phone just to satisfy time curiosity. I do check my email in line. Mostly, because it stops me from ranting about how long the line is, or how slow the clerk is, or how awful the weather is today.
I don’t think we need to unplug, I think we just need to carry our smart phones in our pockets, instead of in our hands. They are a useful tool. They are fun entertainment, but they are not the whole world. They are not the only thing we should concentrate on. I don’t have a movie screen in my car, because I want my kids to look out of their windows while we drive - seeing the world, and reading signs, and playing license plate games. I don’t pull my phone out of my purse for anything other than to answer it’s rings and chirps, or to answer the myriad of questions that my children ask - or when I’m home, to look up information so I don’t have to kick my kids off the computer for every insignificant query that pops in my head.
All that having been said - have you heard the rumors of the new iWatch?
Allyson | February 18th, 2013 at 10:41 am
I think it’s mostly about controlling the technology instead of letting it control you. Like anything else it takes practice.
Megan | February 19th, 2013 at 12:08 pm
“controlling the technology instead of letting it control you.”
LOVE THIS
Miss Britt | February 19th, 2013 at 12:10 pm
just getting to the point you don’t need to look at it constantly would be a great start. I (somewhat) consciosuly have a “feature” phone rather than a smartphone. I can get email when I need it, I can get many web apps (just not all), but it doesn’t absorb me the way I know a smartphone could. At least once a week I have to try & get off the train behind someone who’s busy looking at their phone and doesn’t seem to realize others need to get off. Literally, eyes on screen walk of car and stop dead, leading to a pile up crash among the rest behind them. And then looking annoyed when someone says “excuse me ” to go around them. And it isn’t generally that their phone just urgently buzzed - they are simply 100% engrossed 100% of the time. I used to hate cell phones for that reason (the person talking at the top of their voice for 45 minutes) now it is the person who doesn’t even see the world around them.
Mich | February 22nd, 2013 at 1:49 pm