And for my return journey, my husband also accompanied me. As soon as the mobiles went on flight mode, he turned to me and asked, “so what’s up” which was luckily not on WhatsApp and question in person. I felt we spoke properly to each other after few months or probably a year.
As I got back home, we again got busy with the mobile phones, TV and laptop. That’s when I felt why should we not have the flight mode on little more frequently than just the time we fly in an airplane. I recently came across terms like digital detox on Radio which almost means the same, but that focused on being away from social media rather than all the electronic gadgets.
At home and in offices, we probably could have 1 hour flight mode on a weekly basis. I don’t know if that’s too much to ask for. People even sleep with their phone right beside them and respond to mails and messages at odd hours of the night.
What happens when we keep away our gadgets for a day or week?
•We may not respond to a mail or message?
•We miss some deadline; however, no deadline is imp than life and valuable time that one could spend with family and friends
•We earn at the cost of our time, but do we have time to enjoy what we earned? I don’t know- just a food for thought. I wonder at the parents, who run to work without spending time with kids. Money could be earned later but kids childhood once gone will never come back. Similar is the time spent with ageing parents! No offence to anyone as I belong to the same category of people who run to work on a daily basis and struggle to create a work life balance.
So, listing down some thought which we could do in a flight mode on without being in flight though!
•We could pursue some hobby or a sport – say painting, dancing and swimming.
•We socialize with friends and family in person? We could probably live the moment (I have seen friends who would plan and meet and would be busy messaging others, maybe planning next meet sessions! Hello!! excuse me! And all I do is to threaten them to throw their ‘so showoff costly’ mobiles)
•We could pick up a book, rather than reading things online.
•Just sit back and relax!!give our brains and hearts some rest.
•Do casual observations!
As I write this with my casual observation during my flight mode on, my husband interferes and says, “Dad was suggesting a holiday to take a break”. All I could say was “if you guys are ready to leave your mobiles, laptop and TV back home, I am game for a holiday which would be a holiday in true sense”.
So, what’s your thoughts and suggestions on Flight mode on? What could be done during these non-flying flight modes?
