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While technology is highly beneficial, many people in New York and other parts of the world are getting overly attached to it. Cell phone addiction, especially, is nearly getting out of control among adults and even the younger generation. A significant percentage of people spend their free time browsing the internet, making phone calls, or watching their favorite shows via their phones.
To break away from the mobile phone and other forms of technology, some people prefer going camping. Still, some people struggle to stay without their phones and carry them to camp, which many camping facilities discourage. Also known as deplugging, taking a break from technology or a new phone is an excellent way for campers to enjoy the camping experience.
Whether camping as a family or with your colleagues, a digital detox helps clear your mind allowing you to practice mindfulness and cherish your surroundings. Here are reasons why you should consider going winter camping without a phone.
17 Positive Aspects to Spend a Week Without a Phone at Winter Camp
Do you want to dumb your phone for a short or long period? While attending a winter camp at the end of the week without a phone will not be easy, it has numerous benefits. These include:
1. Increases Bonding Time
Camping is an effective way of spending more time with your friends and family. Besides catching up, you share exciting stories and engage in fun activities as a team which help you catch up and bond. Without your phones, you don’t have to think about missing the latest podcast or WhatsApp chats. You’ll need more time to think about looking for your charger.
Camping for a week without a phone is critical, especially when you’re spending time with friends or family members with busy days who hardly have time to relax and catch up. Phones and cameras may come in handy in shooting a vlog and recording the moment. However, sitting around the campfire in the evening telling jokes and enjoying each other’s stories helps you connect intentionally.
2. An Opportunity to Improve Your Skills
Many people spend prolonged periods on phones doing unproductive stuff. Going winter camping instead allows you to invest in learning new skills. You should be passionate about the outdoors to enjoy the rewards of acquiring a new skill. Some activities, such as hunting and fishing, are highly beneficial and enjoyable. However, they require maximum concentration, meaning they are best executed without distractions. Apart from learning new skills, campers can spend their time in the winter camp learning from one another. To prepare for a phoneless trip, print out any instructions you may need, such as:
- How to build a campfire
- How to gut a fish
- How to identify animal tracks
- How to pitch camp
- Maps and weather forecasts for all the days of your winter camp trip
Store your printouts in a Ziploc bag before packing them to maximize protection.
3. Promotes Relaxation
Some studies suggest that spending time outdoors promotes relaxation. Many people are stressed about education, careers, and work in today’s fast-paced world. Taking a break for the first time in a long time can help you enjoy some quiet and peace surrounded by beautiful nature spots. The entire experience of being away from stressful situations is soothing and helps you clear your mind and rest. Without a phone, you eliminate the urge to browse social media or check your emails. Eventually, you live in the moment, forgetting about your home and work roles for some time.
4. Worry-Free Setbacks
While camping is safe, unpredictable falls or rainstorms can destroy electronics. Modern-day cell phone screens are weather and fall-resistant. However, it’s important to take precautions to prevent unnecessary losses and moments of wondering what if I lose my phone. Access to a satellite phone or a landline can help you seek help, especially during an emergency. You can power off your satellite phone, store it in a plastic bag, and give it to your guide or camp supervisor to avoid the urge to use it. Depending on the winter camp you attend, you may not need a satellite as some facilities have different methods of communication if emergencies occur.
5. More Fulfilling Adventures
Deplugging helps you focus on the adventures during a winter camp trip. Even when you experience bad weather, you will enjoy the moment and take away critical lessons. You will also have tremendous stories to tell your colleagues after the trip. Without distractions, you can learn from your fellow campers and your surroundings. Without a phone, you can navigate rough trails and traverse rivers. With the right camping gear, you can enjoy each adventure.
6. Reduced Competition
One of the drawbacks of social media is it increases your urge to get more comments and likes. You don’t have to record your camping trip and struggle with cropping and filtering images and posting them on Snapchat in real-time. Doing so takes you away from enjoying the moment thoroughly. If you need to take photos, consider bringing a photographer or using an old phone or disposable camera. Disposable cameras may be analog, but they produce excellent image quality. Further, you can get them in soft copy, meaning you can upload them on your social media pages after your winter camp trip.
7. Eliminates Feelings of Loneliness and Jealous
Some researchers established that Tiktok or Facebook addiction could make people dissatisfied with their lives. While there are numerous positive interactions on social media, individual experiences vary. Social media can be a hub for envy, especially with the numerous posts of people visiting different vacation destinations or enjoying numerous parties. Going winter camping without a phone helps you reset your mind and appreciate everything you have in your life. It helps you realize that there you can be happy without a phone.
8. Finding Solitude in an Ever-connected World is Difficult
Solitude provides you with the quietness and stillness you need to meditate and evaluate your life away from distractions. As external noise becomes louder by the day, the need for solitude is now evident, even though many overlook it. Attending winter camp is an excellent way of enjoying meditation and solitude sessions. Switch off your phone, go winter camping, and enjoy a moment of solitude.
9. Eliminates FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
Scientists define the fear of missing out as a psychological disorder triggered by increased technology addiction. Today, people post nearly everything happening in their lives on social media. Whether it is friends enjoying seemingly delicious food or a party, receiving numerous notifications triggers the fear of missing out in many people. Taking a break from social media and living in the moment is a critical survival tactic in today’s modern world.
10. Enjoy Life from a Different Perspective
While the world is evolving fast, the nature of life remains intact. However, you can only discover and enjoy real-life experiences and have authentic, unfiltered conversations by taking a break from your phone and technology. What better way of having these experiences that attending winter camp without a phone?
11. Helps you Rate Your Addiction Levels
You can only rate the level of your phone addiction if you take a break from it. When you go winter camping without a phone, you may realize your phone addiction level is higher than you thought. A good way of discovering how much your phone impacts your life is to switch it off and go to a winter camp. During camp, take note of your urge to get back to your phone and realize your addiction levels.
12. Deplugging is an Effective way of Promoting Creation while Scaling down on Consumption
Often, people spend most of their time creating or consuming. Technology can promote creation in various ways. For instance, you can create an informative blog post through your phone or computer. However, a significant percentage of people spend time on consumption:
- Browsing the internet
- Playing full video games
- Reading trending news
- Listening to music
- Watching a movie
The world no longer needs consuming. Instead, it requires creating human contribution, solutions, and passion. Taking a break from your phone during winter camp can help you discover ways to contribute to an improved world.
13. Use Time Management Tools
Various internet-based tools can help you control the time you spend online better. Some tools disable your internet connection if you surpass your time limit online. You can use other tools to block access to specific websites like Twitter, Gmail, Facebook, or blogs for some time. These tools allow you access to less addictive websites. Usually, they are designed to combat social media addiction.
14. Physical Meetings Remain Critical in Life
There are essential resources online that promote growth while helping you to evolve. The friends you meet and the connections you make online can be enriching. However, physical meetings are critical regardless of how often you interact with your peers through technology. The experience of having a one-on-one conversation away from the filters is better and more fulfilling than listening to a podcast. Spending some time in winter camp without a phone helps you focus on building valuable relationships and making lifetime friends.
15. Reduces Anxiety and Stress
Unplugging from your phone is an excellent way of rebooting your brain. When you don’t have to check your phone for emails, news alerts, lol at emojis, or LinkedIn notifications constantly, your brain slows down. This allows you to be in the present moment, relax and enjoy your winter camp activities wholesomely.
16. Allows you to Connect with the Natural World
Letting go of your phone gives you the urge to be outside, enjoy nature, marvel at your surroundings, exercise, and breathe fresh air without distractions. What if you can spend time in winter camp for one week without a phone? Besides meeting and making new friends, you engage in physical activity, which helps you avoid lifestyle health complications such as diabetes and heart disease.
17. Enables you to be Present and Enjoy Life’s Simple Pleasures
Life is moving fast, and if you’re not alert, you may miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to connect. Taking a break from your phone eliminates unnecessary distractions throughout the day. Your mindfulness, self-awareness, and attention span will grow, improving your well-being. Putting away your phone allows you to enjoy your time and the company of people you meet during your winter camp trip.
Spending too much time on your phone denies you an opportunity to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. You can invest the time you spend browsing the internet learning different winter camp activities like ice skating, sledding, or ice fishing. Doing what you’re passionate about helps you enjoy life to the maximum while improving your well-being and mental health.
Can I Survive Without a Phone?
Surviving without a phone may seem impossible, but it’s doable. Do you use your phone while bathing, reading, or in the examination room? Having a phone in today’s digital world is critical. However, the notion that you can’t survive without a phone is a misconception. Using a mobile device lies in your control. Sometimes phones control you, which can negatively impact your productivity levels. Whether you’re using an iPhone or Nokia phone, they serve the same purpose. Dumb phone regularly to focus on important matters and view life from a different perspective.
Tips to Help you Deplug and Focus on Meaningful Activities
In the current ever-connected world, deplugging can be challenging. Here are tips to ease the process.
· Start our Day Wisely
Henry Ward Beecher states, “The first hour is the rudder of the day.” Avoid picking up your phone when you first wake up. Spending an extra one or two hours without touching your phone won’t harm you. After all, you already managed approximately eight hours sleeping. Use that time to focus on more important issues like meditation and planning your activities for the day.
· Switch Off Your Phone for Some Time Every Day
Identify a specific time of the day when you can take a break from your phone. This can be the first few hours of the day, between lunch hour, or before retiring to bed. Choose the best time that works for your schedule and stick to it. Remember, the time you choose may be less important. What matters is your discipline to maintain the practice.
· Take an Extended Break from Your Phone Regularly
Some people lay clear goals for the number of days they want to stay without a phone annually and extend the days subsequently. For example, if you spent nine days without a phone last year, this year, you can add three more days, depending on your schedule.
Some people deactivate unnecessary apps and leave the phone on for important calls and texts only. However you choose to do it, taking a prolonged break from your phone teaches you about yourself, relationships, the world around you, and technology. You can even explore activities you’ve always wanted to engage in and enjoy a cold turkey meal with your family and friends.
What are the Effects of Spending Too Much Time on Your Phone?
With smartphones becoming more accessible, many people spend more time on their mobile devices. Today, children as young as four-year-olds are watching cartoons on their phones. Technology helps people connect in different ways but taking regular breaks from your phone can help you live a fulfilling, happy, and healthy life. As seen below, spending too much time on your phone can negatively affect you in various ways.
· Your Mental Health
Researchers say that by spending a lot of time in front of your screen, you risk getting depressed. One study revealed that people who spend more than six hours watching movies are at risk of developing clinical depression symptoms. Further, extending your screen time can expose you to insomnia, another risk factor for mental health complications. Whether excess screen time affects your brain is unknown, but studies are underway.
· Obesity and Other Lifestyle-based Complications
Sitting for a long time or leading a sedentary lifestyle with prolonged periods of inactivity can result in obesity and other health-related complications like heart disease and diabetes, as we’ve seen above.
· Vision Problems
Staring at your phone screen for a long time can trigger various vision complications like headaches, blurred vision, and dry eyes.
· Inability to Show Empathy
Technology can weaken parts of your brain responsible for empathy and compassion, making it difficult to develop and maintain meaningful relationships.
Finally
Learning to live without a phone and deplugging from technology are critical lifelong skills with many benefits. Mastering this practice can help you lead a disciplined and fulfilling life. Deplugging becomes easier if you let your family and friends know that you will be going winter camping for a week without a phone in advance.
Informing your loved ones that you won’t be responding to emails, social media messages, and texts prevents them from worrying about your whereabouts. Further, it helps you combat the urge to check your messages. You get sufficient time to engage in physical outdoor activities when you switch off your phone. You will also enjoy spending time in nature and engaging in adventurous activities at winter camp.
Are you considering deplugging, relaxing, detoxing your brain, and enjoying the present? Leave your phone behind and book your winter camp trip today.
Image Credit:
- Image by Freepik on Freepik
