Becoming an Alarmist

About 2 months ago, I decided to level up my digital boundaries. I'd already implemented a weekly digital Sabbath of sorts, where I unplug from Friday night to Saturday night - ish. Sometimes, it's Saturday into Sunday. It all depends on what I have going on in my life. 

I like the digital Sabbath and its effect on my weekend. I also began to notice that my days were feeling more and more draining, as I felt the need to be "on" and "available" all the time. 

So, I bought an alarm clock. 


An honest-to-goodness $10 alarm clock from Amazon. I noticed that my excuse to have my phone by my side during the evening, and by my bed at night was, "My phone is my alarm clock." Pretty much every person I know uses their phone as their alarm clock. 

(When did we all throw away our alarm clocks? It happened sometime, in every house in America. Was there a memo that went out to coordinate the momentous occasion?) 

The problem was that I wasn't just using my phone as an alarm. I'd find myself picking it up, looking at emails, scrolling on Instagram, checking Snapchat -- and ultimately, wasting a lot of time. I noticed that even when I would read -- something I LOVE to do -- I'd interrupt myself by picking up my phone to look at absolutely nothing. 

For the past 6 weeks or so, I've been plugging my phone in downstairs in my office area and leaving it there. I decided I would plug my phone in whenever I was home and done for the day. Some days, it's 8 PM, other days, it's 9 PM. Occasionally, when I really feel the need to cut things off, it can be earlier than that. 

I plug in my phone & my watch, and go analog. I have to admit -- it's been pretty great. 

Do I have texts waiting for me the next morning? Yep. 
Does the world stop turning because I reply the next day to a message sent the night before? Nope. 

I still have room for improvement in terms of my digital habits, but the alarm clock has been a game changer. If you are feeling like you need to set better boundaries and give yourself a bit more time with your own thoughts or even give yourself the gift of better sleep -- I highly recommend you try digging out your alarm clock (if you missed the memo to throw yours out) or invest in a cheap one. 

I tend to stay fairly calm, but in this case, I'd say there is cause for alarm. 

It's worth trying, right? 



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