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Here’s a scene that’s become all too commonplace: The family is gathered around the table for a delicious meal. Platters of food cover the table. They’ve come to one house to spend time together, and everything seems perfect. Except…no one is talking. Where there should be joking, laughing, even bickering, a deafening silence pervades the room. Everyone is on their phones.
I’m not going to lie: I’m as guilty as anyone about firing off a work email during a lull in dinnertime conversation or sneaking a look at Slack during a school play.
But there’s a price to be paid for the stranglehold our devices have over us. Not only are we missing out on the aspects of our lives that take place beyond our screens; we may actually be harming our cognition and making ourselves less effective at our jobs.
That’s why I’m an advocate of digital fasting — unplugging from every phone, tablet, laptop, etc. for a predetermined period of time. These breaks can take place over the course of an hour, an evening or…pause for effect…even longer. That may sound impossible — especially for entrepreneurs. But as painful as it may seem to miss out on an important memo or viral meme, the benefits are even greater.
You’ll stave off burnout
Burnout has been a major topic of conversation for years, especially after the World Health Organization recognized it as a syndrome in 2019. As WFH gained traction during the pandemic, the “always on” mentality became the norm.
But research has found that staying permanently plugged in isn’t actually helping you accomplish more. One study out of Boston University found that managers couldn’t tell the difference in the output between employees who worked 80 hours a week, and those who just pretended to.
Not only is staying constantly connected not getting you ahead, but it can also be actively harmful. As Harvard Business Review notes, we have a finite capacity for concentrating deeply over long periods. When our brains tire out, we become more prone to distractions and a task that might take a well-rested brain only a few minutes to complete can stretch out to hours.
You’ll renew your creativity
Constantly checking your devices may look productive, but the reality is that by immediately responding to every notification, you’re actually killing your creativity.
Perhaps you’re familiar with Bill Gates’ famous Think Weeks — week-long stretches of time where Gates would isolate himself from friends, family, and coworkers and do…nothing. He’d read. He’d think. That’s it.
For me, some of my greatest ideas have come to me in the moments when my mind has been allowed to wander freely. My version of a Think Week is the cherished time I spend each year working on my family’s olive farm in Turkey. I’m certainly not doing nothing, but these respites from constant connectivity have sparked insights I would never have come up with while scrolling through my phone.
If doing nothing sounds boring — it is. That’s part of why it works. Our devices provide our minds with an incessant barrage of stimuli, much of which isn’t especially educational or even interesting. But without those stimuli, our minds are free to wander — and it’s from this place that creative breakthroughs can occur. In one study, researchers found that engaging in boring tasks, like reading numbers from a phone book, boosted mental acuity in subsequent, more creative exercises. Daydreaming, they discovered, actually stimulates imaginative thinking.
Related: Why Every Entrepreneur Should Spend Less Time Looking at Screens
How to do it
To implement a digital fast, my advice is to start small. Setting down your phone for just a few minutes may seem like no big deal — until you try to do it.
Don’t get discouraged. When I first began implementing two hours of deep work time into my daily routine, I was constantly getting pulled off course. We crave the dopamine hit that our devices give us, and diving in too fast can result in giving up altogether. To begin, put your phone in another room for an hour. Once you’ve mastered that, work your way up.
Transparency is also key. Don’t just vanish for several hours in the middle of a Tuesday when people expect things from you. Block time out on your calendar and let colleagues and other stakeholders know you’ll be unreachable during this time.
One great option is to do a digital sabbath. On either Saturday or Sunday, gather up your devices, place them in a drawer and leave them all day. Read a book. Go for a hike. Cook your family dinner. Do something that requires interacting with the world around you, out of proximity of your smartphone, since studies have found that our devices can still impact cognitive capacity if they’re within arms reach.
So much of our lives are lived online. It’s an inevitability of the modern era in which we live. But there is a price to pay for relying on our devices too much — not only does it hasten burnout, it stifles creativity. I urge you to unplug. The emails, notification and even memes will all be waiting for you when you get back.
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