Why switching off makes sense

Ever wondered why you have your best ideas when you are in the shower, or driving the car, or walking the dog? It’s because you actually give your brain time to process the stuff that’s already in there.

Sometimes switching off makes sense.

A survey released in June found that almost three quarters of us believe technology and mobile communications networks have made it easier to balance work and our personal lives – but more than 52 per cent of us believe technology is also stealing our private time as we constantly feel the need to check our email, tweet, monitor Facebook or check the company bank balance.

Remember when you were a teenager and you had to go to every Saturday night party in case it was “the one”? It rarely was – but we kept going anyway. Well we’re a bit like that with our technology – we pick up every call, access every email, and read every report the minute it arrives just in case “it’s the one”.

I tried going cool chicken (slightly less aggressive than cold turkey) during a recent family holiday to WA. I forwarded all the phones to the mobile and put a message on the email saying that I wouldn’t be responding to emails before the 18th – but if it was urgent to please telephone me. I checked the emails from my smartphone every morning, then switched the phone to silent. At the end of the day I’d respond to any phone messages that people had left, then turn it off again.

I picked up two new pieces of business during the fortnight, didn’t lose a single Facebook friend, and thought through some niggling issues, because for a short while I was in charge of the technology, it wasn’t in charge of me.

Now I’m back from holiday I’m carving out longer periods of time between email checks, and occasionally turning the phone to silent to try and maintain the greater sense of control and perspective that I achieved during the cool chicken phase.

So, when was the last time you turned off your mobile for a day? Or left your email unchecked for a weekend? Or didn’t click on every dashboard report as soon as it landed? I’m issuing a challenge – make this a mobile and computer free weekend – because it will probably unleash an unexpected dose of business intelligence.

Then come back to the site and share your insights. Am I right? Did some downtime give you back some control, fresh insights, and were those people talking to you all weekend your family and friends?

This blog was first published at IBM Business Insights Blog and is republished here with kind permission of the author, Beverley Head. Beverley began writing about the business of technology in London two years after the IBM PC launched, and a year before the Apple Mac debuted. With an eye for the KPIs and ROI of IT, and a way with words that business people can understand, Beverley is more about bottom lines than bits and bytes. After a decade as IT editor of the Australian Financial Review she is now a freelance writer and has written for The Age, Banking Day, BRW, Boss, Education Review, iTWire and the SMH.