// you’re reading...

filed in Daily Life

Down Time

My iPhone battery is draining from all the Twitter use. I’m finding it very hard to turn off the news. In the nick of time, my Friday night unplug ritual is calling. 

Illustration by Stephan Schmitz

Discussion

4 comments for “Down Time”

  1. Petra says:

    Do you turn off all internet on the weekends? Or just social media?

    One of my New Year’s Commitments will be to seriously rein in social media: Facebook, Reddit, NYTimes comments sections, even my beloved Chowhound. I have become too attached to my phone and am finding it so draining and unsatisfying.

    • wendy says:

      I have to fess up – not weekends – Friday night to Saturday till after services (1 ish). And I still use my phone for calls, google maps. But it’s a start. I’m really in need of a Twitter fast.

  2. Meghan says:

    One of the resons I put off buying a smartphone is that I heard the average user looks at her phone 200 times a day. It seemed sick an unnatural. Now, 1.5 years into owning an iphone, I’ve turned into a fricking cliche; I am the person who texts while crossing the street, interrupts actual conversations to check text messages and who can barely walk to the end of the block without consulting googlemaps for the fastest route.
    Not to mention the many aps that I check, undoubtedly, at least 200 times a day.
    I, too, would like to curb this somehow, but, just like my diet, I’m planning to start tomorrow.
    P.S. What’s big in the news? Did I miss something?

    • wendy says:

      I appreciate your sharing the part about texting as you cross the street. When I see people doing it, I wonder, what’s the impulse? I’d love for you to explain it to me.

Leave a Reply