On last Wednesday’s Power Down Podcast, Heather King and I talked with Megan Jordan of Velveteen Mind about the importance of establishing personal online rules, or as Megan called them, boundaries. (And yes, she’s fabulous…go listen!)
It occurred to me that I’m constantly feeding my brain information while I sit in front of the computer. I hear a bing and I respond. I see an alert or update, and I absorb. There are absolutely times when this is appropriate–respond, react, absorb, repeat!–but there are also times when I need to retreat behind a wall of my own making and regroup. How can I put things out there if I’m always taking them in? The other day, I went on a twenty minute walk after working online for hours. And in that twenty minutes, I had two new plot ideas for my current novel. I could practically hear my brain sighing with gratitude for the room to roam in its own direction.
Heather and I have been talking in general terms about powering down, but we want to offer concrete examples as well. Here are a few of mine.
I am fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate?) to be organized and disciplined to a fault. What this means: I can look like I’m holding it all together–a lot together–right up to the moment I can’t. And then it’s messy. I tend to pile too much on, filling in the nooks and crannies of my day until I’m stuffed. For me, part of powering down means lightening that load.
On a daily basis, I do the following to balance my online and off-line time:
1. I schedule email reading and response times. Personally, I set four time blocks per day to check my email. Any less, and I’m buried. Any more, and I’m a dog chasing her tail. I designate these officially in my iPhone, and wait for the calendar alert before opening gmail. This is a new policy for me; I’ll let you know how it goes.
2. I schedule a two-hour off-line block in the middle of my work day, four days per week. I engage Freedom, and step away from online everything. This doesn’t mean I’m not working. It just means I’m working uninterrupted. I use this time to write freelance articles that don’t require online research (or for which the research has been done), novel write, and free write blog posts.
3. I schedule social media time during the day. I only open a social media application when I’m ready to spend a block of time on it, and when I do, I schedule tweets and Facebook updates for the full day. This is important because social media is part of my job. But it doesn’t have to run my life. (Notice the repetitiveness of the word ‘schedule’. How I do love to schedule.)
4. I turn it all off by 6 pm. Lots of bloggers say 9 pm, or 10 pm, but I’m a lightweight. That said, you can probably find me on Twitter at 5:30 am. (I can hear crickets at that hour.)
5. I found that nifty ‘do not disturb’ feature on my iPhone, and I use it. At least half of every day, my phone is in do not disturb mode or muted. I guess I’m just too easily distracted otherwise by the shiny.
What about you? What boundaries work for you and your family? No phones at the table? No tablets in the car? No more push notifications?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m printing this off right now. I seriously need some self-discipline in this department and can feel myself drowning deeper into it as a work-at-home writer. The alerts on the phone and the computer — I’m like Pavlov’s dog! Last week I though I’d just find an alert tone that is super quiet and subtle (barely makes a blip), but I react to even THAT one and find it next to impossible to not check the email, Tweet, FB message that it was announcing. I’m impressed that you can shut it all down by 6 p.m.!
Jenny recently posted..Parenthood: Where Dreamers Get Schooled
It’s exactly like Pavlov’s dog, and I have good days and bad days, where I salivate over it more than others. So glad my tips will help, and let me know how it goes!
I don’t have anything set to push on my phone (email, facebook alerts, etc) except twitter notifications that are directed @ me. I figure that I check my email often enough and I don’t need that little number icon being pushy and staring me down. Plus it saves a lot of battery power on my phone. Other than that, you sound much more disciplined than me.
Shannon recently posted..These Moments of Sisterhood
I should do the same regarding push notifications, because I’m certainly on email enough. I didn’t think about battery power. Good point!
These are great tips, Amy. I definitely need to carve some boundaries and I am determined to try some of these suggestions. Thanks!
Rudri Bhatt Patel @ Being Rudri recently posted..Your Story Matters
Let me know what works and what doesn’t. It’s all about figuring out what works for you.
This post is the first convincing reason I can think of for having a smart phone. How ironic is it that I find it useful because it can help you control when NOT to be connected? :)
I’m glad you shared the Power Down link. I was waiting for it on Wednesday but I never had time to go chase it down myself. Maybe I’ll fold laundry and listen to it today.
Kathleen Basi recently posted..Mysteries
Yes, we’re trying to make it easier for people to grab the podcast, because the last thing we want is people waiting around online for it! It’s always in my sidebar now (just click on the badge) and will always be updated at the splash page on SITS. I listen to podcasts while folding laundry, too.
Wow, that’s amazingly organized. My online avoidance is more free-flow. We have terrible internet service at home, so the temptation is not there–too frustrating to deal with disconnects and slow uploading/downloading time. I go to the library on Tuesday evening and do all of my blogging and various other internet-ey things for the week then (also, I’m supposed to get some writing for school done at that time). I have one other evening for working (on writing), which I try to devote entirely to writing and no internet anything, which is easier when I’m jazzed on something I’m working on and not trying to procrastinate. I check my email (on my phone) throughout the day, but most of it is junk and I delete it. I haven’t been on facebook in a month and I haven’t missed it at all (mostly it raises my blood pressure). And I haven’t answered the land-line in years without first screening via the answering machine.
I almost envy your lack of internet connection at home. Almost. You can’t miss what you don’t ever have, right? And it’s so true about things like Facebook: once you step away, it’s pretty easy to stay away.