Author and woman in long-term recovery Anne Lamott is credited with the brilliant saying "Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." And yet, unplugging is the last thing that many of us are willing to do. Nearly half of the respondents in a recent survey admitted to spending an average of five to six hours on their phone each day, and that didn't include work-related time.
Another quarter of respondents spent three to four hours on their phone daily. Lamott's advice to unplug for a few minutes is wise, but in my own life I've had to revise it to unplug for a few hours, rather than minutes.
I play a lot of games with myself around my phone use, but it is very obvious that my anxiety is lessened and I am much more present to myself and others on the days when I put my phone away for a few hours. Unplugging for a few minutes doesn't really cut it for me these days.
How about you? Can you unplug for hours?
If not, can you practice unplugging for fifteen, thirty, or forty-five minutes at a time? What feelings come up when you do that?