Photo by sonnysideup14

In our iPhone-addicted, daily blogging, Instagramming society, can you imagine completely disconnecting from technology for just one day? What about a week? While I’m on vacation next week, I will be unable to use my phone and my laptop most likely won’t find a place in my suitcase. My initial reaction to this realization was panic but it also challenged me to consider making the most of the time I’m disconnected. Could taking time to “recharge” actually improve our social media marketing efforts? I think so and here’s why:

• Spending a day, or however long you choose, will challenge you to reach parts of your mind and soul that have been kept idle for too long. Use the time to disconnect from technology and reconnect with yourself. Having writers’ block? Blog about your time offline, what you learned and how it made you feel.
• The constant speed of technology can prevent you from slowing down and focusing on tasks. Even now as I am writing this blog post, I am distracted by email, Spotify and Facebook! We end up being less productive because we spend more time trying to get back in the zone and remember where we left off. When you put away your phone and ignore the Facebook newsfeed, it will challenge you to focus on your goals and projects with little to no distractions.
• Close your laptop and have conversations the way you used to: face to face! Setting up client meetings in the office or over coffee may help you focus more clearly on the goals and objectives you have for them. Other ideas could be “Tweet-Ups” with Twitter friends you haven’t met or spending time with your social media “mentor” to gather ideas and focus on your social media goals.

Believe it or not, there is actually a National Day of Unplugging. It was back in March but who’s to say you can’t make your own every once in a while? So here’s the challenge: pick a day this week or this month and choose several hours to unplug from your own devices, whether it’s your computer, phone or television. You can choose however short or long you want it be then after, let us know how you did! How many hours did you unplug? What did you do with your time instead?