We have led such a life with technological advancement that one just can’t even think of living without digital devices. Be it waking up and checking emails or sleeping after scrolling through social media, our smartphones, tabs, and laptops become our constant companion for communication, work, entertainment, and maintaining the daily routine. What happens if we do a bit of more substantial unplugging? What does one do on taking no digital devices over a span of 72 continuous hours? Impossible or most-feared activity for many, in this particular man’s case, though, going on a digital detox was not a matter of curiosity but to recoil back into oneself from the noise of all those digital din around and the outer world.
Let’s take an excursion through what would happen when one abstains from all digital devices for 72 hours. Let us go along in the change in the human body, physically, mentally, and emotionally once the leash is let off.
The Decision to Unplug
All of this would begin on a Monday morning-the moment Sarah, a 32-year-old freelance writer, reached toward her phone through a haze of fatigue. She had spent most of that day staring at screens, constantly email-checking and responding to-and asking about-work, scrolling over social media and the news cycle without really reading it. Her body had felt heavy, her head vaguely foggy; she wasn’t quite sure what time it had been when she last really did feel there.
It was during this introspection that the epiphany came, and not particularly way deep into it-she was a slave to gadgets. In charge of her schedule, most of her time and attention went into the digital world. From one impulsive action to another, she decided to try the challenge of living 72 hours without any digital devices.
Simple rules: no phone, no laptop, no tablet, no smartwatches. She could use a landline in case something very important happened; other than that, she would plunge into the void of a device-free environment. Sarah felt both nervous and curious: what would it feel like to be disconnected from digital noise for three days straight, what would she find, and how would it change her?
The First 24 Hours: The Initial Struggle
The first few hours without her phone were, to say the least, jarring. Her brain raced to check notifications or if anybody messaged her; she even found out how many times she checks her phone even when there isn’t a good enough reason for this. How ingrained technology had become into daily life was crystal clear.
She went into the kitchen for something to eat, reaching for her phone. Of course, it wasn’t there-a habit it would take some time to break. Without Instagram to scroll through, without emails to check, that weird sensation was there for the rest of the morning.
Without the phone, Sarah realized how much time she wastes during the moments of boredom. Waiting at the stop or waiting for her coffee, by default she reached for her device. With this option unavailable, she found herself having to face these idle moments and think about how she’d been filling them before. At first, there was discomfort-the silence deafening.
But it was the lack of constant digital distraction that began to clear space for something else. It was not long after this that Sarah started to pay greater attention to her near environment. She had begun to notice those things of the world she long ago stopped paying any attention to: the sunlight creeping into her window, the very soft hum of the city outside, comforting sound of feet on pavement as she walked toward the park.
That night, Sarah read a book-a real one bound in paper. It was months since she had done that. It felt indulgent. For the first time in a long time, her brain wasn’t getting pummeled by the steady stream of input. It was just her and the words on the page. There was a simplicity to it she hadn’t realized he had been missing.
The Second Day: Further Reflection
Subtle shifts in mood and ways of thinking really did not emerge for Sarah until the second day. Whereas she had expected to feel disconnected, she noticed in moments that she was more connected: Interactions with people around her seemed so much more real; she was having lunch with a friend and actually could converse without the temptation to check her phone every few minutes.
She had much more awareness throughout the day as to her thinking and emotions. All the regular distractions that a digital device might provide-news, notifications, social media-they had all been completely eliminated and left a lot of open space in the mental capacity. Sarah reinstated the practice of keeping a journal after several years of not doing it. It became cathartic writing down reflections, without the intrusion of some oncoming message or notification disrupting her stream of consciousness.
By mid-afternoon, Sarah realized another thing: she felt considerably less anxious. She was used to being so “on” – worried about missing something critical or falling behind – that not having those pressures was jolting. Her tight body had relaxed. No longer did she feel the drive to check and instantly respond to email messages.
Later in the evening, Sarah took a very long walk around her neighborhood, aided by nothing digital. It was so meditative in a way-the soft rhythm of footsteps, cool air brushing her skin, and the peace of just being present, undistracted. She did not feel any urge to take a photo of the setting sun or to check her social media accounts for updates.
The Last 24 Hours: Living the New Freedom
By the time Sarah entered the last 24 hours of digital detox, reflections of the deeper changes in her life began. On the surface, the abstinence from electronic devices might come across as a simple routine change, yet in reality, that was all one needed to let an entirely new view of life appear.
Now, she felt hyper-aware of how much of her life had been ruled by those devices. It’s this relentless drive to keep oneself updated; the information was flowing ceaselessly and creating an anxious world where nobody was fully focused on whatever was going on. She took control of time and attention during those 72 hours without a plug.
Now near the tail-end of her detox, Sarah sat alone at a cafe near her residence, sans tethers to a screen for distraction. She noted those around her-most hunched over their phones low. It then hit her that digital devices had pervaded every nook and corner of society and governed the manner in which the denizens interacted with one another. She was sad but relieved. Where the world was always plugged into everything, she found a new sense of peace in the choice to unplug.
And for the first time in days, finally, Sarah got it: the idea behind mindfulness wasn’t to be in the moment; it was permission to exist without needing to consume information or respond to messages or participate in the noise of the digital world. She felt lighter, more connected, more rooted to herself.
The Reality after Detox: Return to the Digital World
The moment of truth-when the 72 hours were up-it was now or never for Sarah: to retreat back into the devices and their habits or take the lessons learnt forward. She was a little unsure at the beginning-a part of her unwilling to be flung headlong into continuous cacophony of notifications, emails, and alerts.
But Sarah knew that digital devices were not all bad; they were tools and they were supposed to enhance her life, not rule it. Firing up her phone to check in for messages, she instinctively did so with a new sense of mindfulness: She could use technology without being overwhelmed by it. She had become much more thoughtful of how she wanted to show up in the digital world, and rather than passive scrolling, she chose to make time for real-world interactions and presence.
That is, it wasn’t until after that 72-hour detox that the realization came full circle for Sarah-that a person can very well get lost into virtual space. Meanwhile, taking one step backward became incredibly empowering. Just to say, sometimes all of us have to disconnect in order to reconnect-to ourselves, to other people, and to the world around us.