Put Down Your Smartphone: 3 Reasons Why Unplugging Enhances Your Career

In a world of unprecedented technological advancement, how are we expected to unplug? We’ve grown accustomed to a level of connectivity that makes it incredibly difficult to put our smartphones down (at least without a little anxiety).

Even as I write, my phone is loyally by my side, waiting for me to check the next notification. Confessions of a smart phone user.

With the advent of the recent “unplugging” trend, it seems like the time we spend plugged in could be affecting the way we work more than originally anticipated. How long do you think you could go without any of your usual technological conveniences? I already feel strange even thinking about missing an email that could make the rest of my week a game of catch-up.

But is unplugging worth all that anxiety? What are we missing out on when our eyes are glued to a screen all day? And how could your career be enhanced by declaring your freedom from tech?

1. Time

Have you ever felt like your time is simply drifting away? It could be your trusty mobile device that is the culprit…*

2. Networking

As a culture, we’ve developed the habit of taking out our phones whenever we have a minute of downtime. What real-life connections are we missing out on when we’re looking through photos on Facebook?

3. Relaxation

Do you really NEED to address that work “emergency” at midnight? Or could unplugging at night make you better able to address it in the morning?

*Before taking this as your cue to live off the grid, read more about how to strike the perfect balance between plugged in and getting unplugged here in the original blog I wrote for the St. Thomas Opus Magnum blog.

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