I Went Screen-Free for 24 Hours With Only a JORD Watch on My Wrist … Here’s What Happened
This post is sponsored by JORD. All opinions are my own.
The first time Easton made a comment, I brushed it off. “Mom, put your phone down and watch me. No, put your phone DOWN!”
Whoops. Sorry, honey, you’re right. I just needed one minute to scroll Instagram and give my whirling-carousel mind a pause.
But the next time it came up, it cut me to the core. It started this time with me asking him to put his tablet down — at the dinner table. He argued. I insisted. And then he exploded.
“Why do I have to put my phone down? You don’t ever put your phone down. Your life is your phone.“
I heard those words reverberate in my mind, echoing like a gunshot. I still hear those words echo in my head today. If my 6-year-old can call me out on it … it was time for something to change.
But the brutal truth is, change is hard. Putting down your phone is H A R D. You can tell yourself, I’m going to be present today. I’m not going to scroll social media. I won’t respond to texts when I’m playing with my kids. But then something so important pings your Apple Watch and you find yourself covertly scribbling a quick text.
I wanted a way to take it to the next level, and when JORD reached out to me about a partnership, the idea was born: A 24-hour total digital detox. No phone, no Apple Watch. Back to basics with only a naturally crafted analogue timepiece on my wrist for an entire day. Could I do it?
I knew from the beginning JORD was just the right fit for this experiment. Instagram darling JORD is known for their wooden watches, a line of hand-crafted timepieces made from raw materials. Their line is constantly expanding and now incorporates a variety of naturally sourced materials, including bracelet watches with natural stone faces, wood Apple Watch bands, and even the introduction of wood-detailed sunglasses (which I’m totally coveting).
I was gifted the Cassia watch in ebony and sable, a sleek all-black wooden watch that basically complements everything I own. JORD watches are custom-sized to your wrist with a printable tool available from their website to help your find your perfect fit — just one of the many thoughtful details of the brand. (They can also be engraved — such a cool gift idea!) As soon as I clasped it on, I was in love.
But it wasn’t until I wore it for a few hours that I realized exactly why I was in love: This beautiful watch is SIMPLE. It doesn’t ping with text messages, or buzz for appointments, or remind me to breathe, or encourage me to stand up. There’s a time and a place for all that, but sometimes I need a little quiet in my head to focus, recharge, and dig deep.
And that’s exactly what I needed last weekend. A recharge. Between the overwhelm of back-to-school anxieties, the creeping envy that social media can cause, and the #momguilt from being called out by my 6-year-old on my apparently very distracted life — leaving my iPhone on the charger and taking off my Apple Watch in lieu of the elegantly back-to-basics Cassia wooden watch for a day suddenly seemed very appealing.
Does it sound appealing to you too? Take it from me: An alternative timekeeper like my wood watch was a sanity-saver during this experiment. That’s why I’m excited to share that I’ve partnered with JORD to give away $100 to one of my readers for their own men’s or women’s watch, watch band or sunglasses! Even if you don’t win, you’ll receive a coupon code for 10% off any purchase as a thank-you for entering. Enter now at: www.jordwatches.com/g/neverdonewithfun. JORD products ship free, even worldwide — total bonus if you’re like me and it kills you to pay for shipping for any online purchase.
So I did just that. Put down the phone.
The plan was simple: Apple Watch on the charger the entire day. iPhone facedown on my nightstand whenever I was home. (When I went out, I did bring it with for emergencies but kept it in the car glove box.) No iPad, no laptop, no TV, and not even my Kindle because I figured if I was going screen-free, I was going all in.
I’ll be honest. I wasn’t sure I could do it.
Here’s what happened:
First, I planned. Carefully.
The timing on this experiment had to be right. It needed to be on a weekend (because I work full-time, on a computer) and it needed to be a relatively chill weekend where no one would really need to be in contact with me. You have to set yourself up for success, you know. I chose Saturday rather than Sunday because I wouldn’t need my Apple Watch for pacing my long run on a Saturday.
Then I cut the cord (figuratively, of course — no need for drastic measures!)
I set my phone on the charger at 9 PM on Friday night. Little logistics, like waking up for a 7 AM Saturday fitness class, were suddenly complicated, Sure, I could have dug out an actual alarm clock (maybe…), or asked #DoneWithFun Daddy to wake me. But then I thought about how the primary purpose of this experiment was to be present: I didn’t NEED to rush off to a workout first thing on a Saturday. I could wake up slowly, naturally (ahem, when my kids woke me), and I could snuggle the boys in bed instead of hustling off solo as the sun rises. I turned off my alarm as I put down my phone and made the decision to skip the fitness class.
Then I panicked.
The minor freak-out moment came right after I put my phone down, as I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep. My head was still going a mile a minute, thinking about all the things I WOULDN’T be able to do and all the things that COULD go wrong. My parents were babysitting the kids on Saturday night and I wouldn’t see their updates or questions by text. What if my friends were offended or hurt when I didn’t respond to their messages? I hadn’t given anyone warning about my little experiment. How would I check the weather? How would I get anywhere on time? I had dinner plans. How would I navigate without Google Maps? I wouldn’t be able to share a single snap of my outfit, food or drink on my Instagram Stories.
Total first-world problems, I know. The panic was real, but also ridiculous — and self-created. I talked myself down and finally fell asleep.
I woke up rested…but the morning was a struggle.
Honestly, a slow start Saturday morning felt decadent at first … I didn’t have anywhere to be. Sawyer curled up in my arms, sucking his thumb and holding my finger. I closed my eyes and dozed contentedly. But then when the boys were watching their tablets in bed next to me and I couldn’t check in on Instagram or even chip away at my current read on the Kindle, I felt at loose ends too. Was I going to be able to survive the day? I had my doubts at 6:30 AM on Saturday morning.
I checked my watch. A LOT.
As soon as I was up and around in the morning, I realized I needed a watch on. My wood watch to the rescue! I’m too Type A not to know what time it is at all times, and I found myself glancing at the glossy wooden face constantly. And sort of blankly, as I realized that I actually had to tell time instead of just read a digital display.
I swear sometimes I hallucinated my JORD watch vibrating the way my Apple Watch does when I get texts, and I was utterly flustered when I had to sign and date something and had no idea what the date was without my phone to tell me. Obviously, my digital addiction runs deep.
It got easier as the day went on.
But then, as the day progressed, it became more natural to glance at my watch and not wonder what texts were being sent without me seeing them. In fact … it kind of felt like freedom. By mid-afternoon, I was checking my watch the way a normal person checks theirs — you know, for the time.
I actually played with my kids.
Once I got over the initial shock of being “disconnected,” I focused on making the most of it. Instead of watching Sawyer play outside from a chair on the patio and capturing cute moments for the social media highlights reel … I sat on the driveway with him and colored chalk. When he had my undivided attention, he was so funny and adorable and easygoing. There weren’t meltdowns or tantrums — he didn’t have to compete for my attention.
I thought about all the times I had chosen a digital world over the real world in front of me. How many times I had Liked a photo of someone else’s kid instead of loving on my own kid next to me. How many tiny little moments I had watched from behind the camera phone instead of actively participating in them.
I had entire conversations with my husband.
My parents had offered to take the kids so #DoneWithFun Daddy and I had an entire afternoon and evening to ourselves. Without my phone as a buffer — what were we going to talk about for all those hours?
Not exactly shockingly, we had a million things to talk about. We had grown-up conversations about finance and home renovation and future planning. We had date night banter about politics and culture — the kind of deep conversations we enjoyed when we were first dating (incidentally, back before smartphones existed). Before our world revolved around kids and dogs and home and garden.
I accomplished tasks I’d been procrastinating all summer.
When I put pen to paper and devoted an afternoon to planning our family’s fall, I remembered how much more productive you can be if you aren’t interrupting yourself every half hour with random Googling or a peek at Insta. I took my digital detox as an opportunity to make room in my head to focus on goals for the end of 2019, and outline exactly how I was going to get there. Now I have a tangible plan in ink instead of a million ideas swirling in the mist of my #mombrain fog.
I went to bed before 10 PM.
Without Pinterest and Instagram and Facebook and Safari to keep me in the thrall of the blue screen glow until well into the wee hours of the night, I turned off my light at 9:47 PM — and shut my eyes and went to sleep. Without the stimulus overload at bedtime, I was out like a light (pun intended). How many minutes or hours do you fritter away in bed on one of your devices? At least 20? More than an hour? I’m guilty of winding down each night with at least an hour of social media catch-up — and sometimes that one hour drags out into two before I finally go to sleep.
What I Learned From the Experiment
The next morning, my alarm went off on my phone at 5:50 AM and the sound seemed even more jarring than usual. I put on my Apple Watch right away in preparation for my long run, but I didn’t rush to check social media before leaving the house. It just didn’t feel necessary.
The rest of the day, I found entire spans of hours where I left my phone out of arm’s reach. I took a few pictures but didn’t post them to my Stories right away. The effort didn’t seem worth it. I took off my Apple Watch and took a nap with Sawyer in the afternoon because my body was telling me it was tired and I actually listened. I cleaned up the house and cooked dinner and again amazed myself with my actual productivity. I ended up not even checking social media at all until 6 PM on Sunday — almost a full 48 hours without it.
My takeaways from the digital detox were this: My phone has become my security blanket. I’m anxious without it, because I have to cede control to someone else, or let go of control altogether, and I hate not being in control. Being “connected” gives me the illusion of control — I have everything I could possibly need at my fingertips.
That being said, I worried more about the ramifications of being without my phone way more than I needed to. My device addiction is also a reflex. I grab for it out of habit, not necessity. It’s there, so I use it. Does it make life infinitely simpler in many ways? Of course. But can I survive without it? Of course.
The question is, would I do a digital detox again? I may not do a strict 24 hours again anytime soon, but since the experiment, I’ve been more mindful of my usage. I have whole blocks of time, especially on the weekend, where I disconnect and focus on being present. I’m proud to say my screen time decreased by 96 minutes this past week!
So while my JORD watch won’t be a permanent replacement for my Apple Watch, I’m now alternating between the two and keeping the wood watch on my wrist whenever I need a reminder to be in the moment. It’s going to be a permanent date-night accessory, that’s for sure!
Peek the entire JORD line and let me know what catches your eye. Do you think I could rock the sunglasses? Drop a comment with your favorite(s) below and don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win $100 credit for your own JORD!
