I enjoyed the silence but it wasn't easy...my iPhonebatical

To be honest, it was quite the thing the iPhonebatical... Confronting... very confronting. As if I had a phantom pain, missing a limb, called an iPhone. Besides the feeling that I literally missed the thing in my hands there were also some insights. That it's actually quite funny to see that wherever you are: even in a yoga studio! people are constantly busy with their phones. Because I'm normally one of them it's quite interesting to be an outsider for a weekend because things that used to be normal now look a bit hilarious. 

Like sitting next to my friends in a restaurant who are totally into their phones instead of into each other and then there's me, just enjoying being there. Looking at my friends, realizing how funny it actually looks being glued to a mobile phone while I'm actually looking at myself. If I had the iPhone with me, I would do the very same thing. Hello world! And that's the main thing I realise. That due to the urge (and I feel it quite often in one hour) to check my iPhone I'm not able to really life in the moment. 

And even though it was difficult at some times, there was an enormous mental rest. No fear of missing out on something or the inner need to immediately react on messages because 'what would the other think if I didn't react at the same time I got the message'. I mean, they would see I was online, that I actually read the message and it wouldn't be nice not to give a reaction. Seriously, how tiring! Letting these kind of thoughts rule your actions. Living a life (ok it's a bit exaggerating but just bare with me;) based on others expectations. And the interesting thing is, that it actually are your own expectations. Your thoughts of how others see you and what they expect from you. And that's quite a confronting insight...

When I opened my whats app today there were indeed>100 messages. And as I scrolled down I realized: there's no apocalypse, not worldwide, not in my circle of friends, nobody hates me because I didn't react (if this is the case, please step forward,it really helps to open up)and I realised I actually liked the iPhonebatical. So who knows I'll do this once a month. And I did make a decision I'm going to try to hold on to: to not always immediately reply. It really can wait!