I took 5 days off from my iphone, and you know what, it was great.No emails to answer, no pestering whats app messages, no analysing everything incase it might be Instagram worthy, and no staring at screens all the time!It was so good to be fully in the moment, and focus on the task in hand, without any distractions from incoming messages and I would highly recommend some tech time out. You really start to notice how attached people are to their phones, in cafes, in queues, on the train, at the supper table, everyone is constantly plugged in.It also made me realise how massively reliant on my phone I am, and there are a few things you will need to consider before taking a tech detox:
- What's the TIME?. On the first day I was constantly asking people what the time was (people on the street find this weird, who even talks to strangers anymore). You definitely need a watch, I rather like this one:
2. And you will need an alarm clock. Because you do still need to wake up. The prettiness of this one may mean you don't throw it across the room every time you are rudely awakened by the shrill bell..
3. Getting places without Google Maps. This was tough. You will need an A to Z to find your way around, yes they do still exist:
4. And you will have no idea how to find out when your train is leaving, or arriving. Hasn't National Rail enquiries always existed? It turns out not, but you can mail-order a Rail Timetable on 01730 813169. And most stations do also have timetables in them, somewhere...
5. Music. All my music is on my phone, this was something I hadn't anticipated I would miss quite so much. A radio is an excellent way to keep the tunes flowing... however if you want your music to travel with you, you may have to travel back in time first, and dig out that walkman or your hardly ever used mini-disc player. And don't worry, if your walkman doesn't work anymore, Urban Outfitters is selling a snazzy new cassette tape player: 
6. Contacting people. You may want to see people. If you have a landline this is a good start. You will have to arrange to meet people at a location and actually be at the exact place, ON TIME. If you get stuck, pay phones do still exist in London amazingly - you need a minimum of 60p to place a call. Or do a reverse charge call by dialling 0800-r-e-v-e-r-s-e. So you could be a hermit for the week, but I would massively recommend spending some phone free time with people, so make arrangements before ditching the smart phone, or buy yourself a Nokia 3310 type phone (it does have a mini screen though):
7. Entertainment. I am reading The Edwardians by Vita Sackville-West and really didn't miss out on watching the telly. Definitely do buy yourself a notebook and write things down, it's quite refreshing.
8. Taking photos. This is problematic. Fortunately Boots sell a fun range of throw-away cameras, but you've only got 27 shots and no editing. However, receiving developed photos is really fun and always worth the wait:
So you should now be all set 🙌It is impossible to eliminate technology completely, and everybody has a phone, so people are going to show you photos on their phone, ask you if you've been invited to an event on Facebook, or show you YouTube videos of cats, or maybe even this video.But if you can ditch the phone and all screens for a week, I promise it really is worth it 😃.Alice xxx
