Our National Day of Unplugging Challenge to You: Dinner Party!
National days are great.
They give us the opportunity to focus on one important thing for 24 whole hours!
While my favorite one, of course, is all about chocolate (but let's not go there), I was thrilled to find out that Friday, March 9 is 2018’s National Day of Unplugging!
That's right. Unplugging is actually 'a thing.'
And the National Day of Unplugging is a perfect time to challenge ourselves to do just that. Think, turn it off, shut it down, put it on silent, close it out and disconnect!
But we've got an even bigger challenge for you: Host an Unplugged Dinner!
(That means no phones, iPads, laptops, TVs, etc.)
Here are the challenge details:
If You Recharge Best Alone
Do just a bit of planning. If you like cooking, then grocery shop ahead of time for your favorite meal. Or, if cooking stresses you out, order the most tantalizing take-out meal you can think of. (Or that you can afford, because let’s be real.)
When you get home from work or school on the 9th, turn off your phone, laptop, etc. (If anyone will panic from not being able to contact you, you should probably alert them in advance that you’ll be off the grid for the evening.)
Take a bath if you want--use plenty of fizzy, smelly things. Then spend the evening in comfy clothes doing something you love: read a book, write in your journal, do a puzzle or crossword. You get the idea.
And when the time is right, tuck yourself in and get a really good night’s rest.
The point is: On at least this Friday, there’s no pressure to be out and about. Take some guilt-free alone time and just do you, friends!
If You Prefer to Hang With Other Humans
Invite as many or few people over as you want on the 9th. Or live on the edge and schedule it for a Saturday when you have more time. I’m guessing no one cares if you don’t do the dinner on the actual National Day of Unplugging.
Now, here’s the tricky part: Ask your guests to leave their phones at the door.
You obviously don’t want to lose friends over this, so give them a heads-up ahead of time so they can plan accordingly. Hopefully, everyone who accepts the invite is willing to comply in the spirit of the occasion.
Now, just figure out what you want to do. Want a game night? Make it a game night! Think it’ll be too quiet without a TV blaring? Put on some music. (Ok. So music is allowed, as long as it isn’t coming out of a phone. But extra points if it’s live! Or if you can find--wait for it--an unplugged album!)
Let us know what happens! This isn’t required for the challenge. But we’re nosy and would love to hear how it goes! We want to know things like:
How did the group dynamic change when people didn’t have their phones?
Did it feel less chaotic without people jumping up to take calls, looking up “that actor’s name”, etc.?
Did moments of silence feel awkward when you couldn’t pretend they weren’t happening by reaching for your phone?
Did the evening feel a little more connected than usual?
What else?
Here's how you can tell us your story:
And who knows, we might just share your story in one of our next blogs! So, get cooking (and unplugging!), folks!
GOOD LUCK!