Shut Off Electronic Communication: Lifestyle Practice

Shut Off Electronic Communication and Media for One Hour

Simple Instructions:

• For one hour each day, shut down things like email, texts, TV, and social media and be with yourself.
• This should not be during a time when these items would be off by default, like work or commute.
• You may still use electronic devices to listen to music or to read.
• If needed, you may break the hour up into two 30-minute segments, or three 20-minute segments.

Watch to find out what happened when we asked a total stranger about this Lifestyle Practice:

Why Is This Practice Important?

We are so awash in electronic communication we hardly even notice it anymore. Imagine ten years ago if overnight you started getting a constant stream of beeps and buzzes in your pocket — email, calls, messages, notifications. It probably would have seemed insane.

And yet slowly over time, that’s exactly what we have. We don’t even notice something that would have seemed nuts only a decade ago. By itself this technology is not so bad, but it leaves precious little uninterrupted time to engage with our own selves. Rarely do we get an hour without feeling like we have to respond to something.

If you can begin the practice of disconnecting for a period of time, then you may begin to experience yourself in a new or forgotten way. You may start to remember you are the most important relationship you have in your life, and that the person you may want to respond to first and foremost is you.

Michael Stanwyck

Michael Stanwyck is the co-founder of The Whole Life Challenge, an idea that developed during his seven years as a coach and gym manager at CrossFit Los Angeles.

He graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy as well as a degree from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, and feels food is one of the most important parts of a life - it can nourish, heal, and bring people together.

Michael believes health and well-being are as much a state of mind as they are a state of the body, and when it comes to fitness, food, and life in general, he thinks slow is much better than fast (most of the time). Stopping regularly to examine things is the surest way to put down roots and grow.

He knows he will never be done with his own work, and believes the best thing you can do for your well-being starts with loving and working from what you’ve got right now.