Wifi

There aren’t many places where you can now fully disconnect. Places where you can’t access wifi and be hooked to the internet and your smartphone. Places where you can totally be #offline.

Thinking back to my first trip to Europe in 2009, I couldn’t call home on my cellphone, let alone get a wifi signal to use my cell (notice I called it a cellphone not a smartphone, that dates me already!) That was less than a decade ago. Oh how technology has advanced in such a short period of time!

While in Europe, I had to go to Internet cafes or use pay phones with calling cards to call home to let my parents know I was safe and sound. I remember taking photos with my camera here and there at the most memorable tourist attractions but I couldn’t be bothered with documenting my entire trip through the lens of my camera. I wanted to experience it all in person. And let’s be serious, even if I wanted to document it all through the best filters and apps, my flip phone didn’t even have the capabilities to take photos. God, I really am dating myself.

Fast forward almost a decade later, and you can now connect almost anywhere in the world at any time of the day. They even now offer wifi on some planes which seemed like the last place we’d ever see access to internet introduced. I always thought it interfered with the airplane signals?! #GuessIwasWrong

On most flights where they now offer wifi, they at least have put a price tag to access wifi. Its a hefty price tag, but I am glad they put the price high so it discourages me to pay for internet.

Here’s why….

Airplanes are one of the last places where we can put boundaries or restrictions on using our smartphones and accessing social media. Its one of the last remaining places where we are guaranteed silence. Where we expect to be left alone. Its one of the last places where we are forced to sit alone with our thoughts… scary I know.

Its where you can read a book quietly or watch a movie… with no dings, no alerts, no vibrations.

On airplanes, I get some of my best ideas. Its where my creative juices get a flowin’. Its where I pull out pen and paper and write down blog post ideas, work on my editorial calendar, brainstorm content for upcoming presentations, process ideas and thoughts and let my mind wander.

Its one of the best feelings.

I’ve come away from my recent trip visiting my in-laws in Manitoba with many blog posts written and random thoughts documented. Some samples from my most recent two hour ~~personal brainstorm session~~ plane ride?

Agriculture faces a re-branding challenge. I tweeted about this idea this week. Its one of the biggest challenges I believe we face in the industry I grew up in and love to work in. I’ll be elaborating on this thought later this week when I serve on a Co-operators ag panel.
On the topic of agriculture, it just recently dawned on me that for the better part of my political career, I have been the minority. Working in agriculture in downtown Toronto, surrounded by consumers who don’t know much about agriculture and farming is where I’ve realized I’m not the majority. When I was a kid growing up, I just naturally assumed everyone knew about farming because hey, that’s what everyone did right?! Do those who work in agriculture sometimes forget, including me, that we aren’t the majority anymore in the circles we need to be selling our industry too?! And are we comfortable being the minority?
Social media is changing the operational functions of customer service departments for companies and businesses. Both good and bad. I talked about this at a presentation I gave earlier this week from a customer service experience I witnessed on Twitter recently. Blog post written on this = check.
A ‘Someday File’ – we all have one. Places we’d like to travel too; things we want to buy; books we want to read; things we want to learn. What holds us back from doing any of it?! After reading more of Mark Manson’s ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’ it got my mind racing on so many topics he writes about and my own ‘someday file’ and why I keep making lists but don’t DO alot of them.

So many thoughts I know for a two hour flight 😛 So much writing, so little time. Also, here is to our first successful trip and plane ride with Blake. Thankfully it was a smooth ride and experience. Thanks little man for making this mom feel like she hit the baby jackpot #MotherWin

How is it the last week of August? I mean, really…. where has summer gone?

Not that I am entirely sad though. I always enjoy the beginning of summer and then eventually want a ‘start fresh’ with September since fall is my favourite season.

I recently blogged that I enjoyed a week of vacation to Manitoba/Kenora/Lake-of-the-Woods (wish I could go back!) and that due to no internet connection while on holidays, I didn’t have access to email or social media.

Considering social media is what I do for a living, having no access to it seemed like a problem ….. or so I thought.

After a few days of worry and not knowing what to do with my phone (it is normal to have the shakes at first when you’re on withdrawl, right?!) I finally adapted to what life felt like without a phone. And man did it ever feel good! So good in fact that I wanted to share with you in this separate post, the reasons why it was so refreshing to step back from social media and take a break from it when its something you do for a living.

Ironically, I read this article before I left about why you shouldn’t check email while on vacation and I can honestly say, a week without social media/email was one of the healthiest breaks I’ve taken in a long time.

When I try and think of when the last time was that I didn’t have access to internet on my phone at my fingertips, the last time was 2009 when I travelled to Europe. Yes we had cellphones (flip phones back then.. does that date me or what?!) but you couldn’t use them overseas as I suspect you can now with smartphones. I remember leaving my cellphone at home at the time thinking, well, the only way I can communicate to let people still know I was alive was through quick and costly collect calls or my laptop. The only way I could get access to wifi on my laptop while travelling was going to an internet cafe or paying an arm and a leg at the hostels I stayed at to connect to wifi.

My recent vacation made me realize just how dependent we are as social media users, especially since we as Canadians spend the most time on the internet than any other country in the western world.

“Canadians spend the most time on the internet than any other country in the western world.”

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So what were those 5 things vacation taught me about a break from social media?

Social media networks don’t justify that you ‘lived’ through something – Just because you didn’t document the moment or snap a photo to share with your network(s) of something you are experiencing that you think is cool, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Savour those moments with those around you and those your spending time with so you can truly be ‘in the moment,’ rather than thinking about what angle would be best for the best photo op.
Set boundaries to not miss out on life moments – If it is imperative that you be on social media during say long weekends, camping adventures, holidays, etc…. try and ask yourself if it is really necessary to bring the phone along with you. Set boundaries to your social media use – as an example, only check social media once or twice a day so you feel like you are in control of your social media habits, not the other way around.
Use social media with intention and a purpose – This was probably the biggest lesson I learned while on vacation and then reconnecting after a week away. Was I really using social media for the right reasons before I left and in the most strategic way possible? Was I using it for professional reasons with a hint of ‘personal’ in there or was I just browsing social media to fill time that I should have otherwise been ‘guarding.’ Since returning, I’ve downloaded the app Moments to keep track of how much time I’m spending on my phone and on social media apps so I can cut back intentionally and use social media more purposefully.
Choose to follow social media users and content that will better your life – After returning from holidays and catching up on things I seemed to have ‘missed’ while I was away, it was interesting to see how others chose to spend their time on a long-weekend in August and not for professional development or purposes that bettered them. It made me take a second look at the people and brands I follow and the type of content I am constantly indulging in to make sure that the people I follow and the content I consumer on social media channels adds value to my day whether it be from a personal standpoint (a funny laugh, a cute outfit, a good read, seeing other’s adventures and obviously my friend’s) and from a professional development standpoint (articles on social media, millennials, leadership, agriculture/food, business, #girlbosses, etc)
See social media for what it is – likes don’t justify the means – My biggest takeaway from a social media free week? That I can still live and exist in a world without social media. While I may have felt like I was missing out at the beginning, the guilt eventually passed and I realized how amazing it felt to really ‘live’ without having likes justify the means of what I was doing each day. Being in control and having the power to put my phone down was empowering!

I’m proud to say that since returning home from vacation, I’ve made a more conscious effort throughout August to only post when I felt like I had something to say and not just sit around browsing my social media channels.

This new intention and purpose I’m using with social media has felt so good. Try it with me!

[Photo Source]