Trust me, it’s okay to turn off your phone, or computer. It is okay not to respond today, this very minute. It is okay to take a moment for yourself in era life, without wondering if you are missing out.

I was chatting with a friend trying to figure out when this constant access to technology started? When it became, not just a way to text us or call us, but the anchor to our life and relationships. Being as old as I am I remember a time without tech. I remember having to write letters while I was travelling for a year, and having limited money to make these expensive long distance calls.

I can recall what it feels like to get bad news (or good news) late. I know what it is like to have to mail in resumes, all the while crossing your fingers hoping they get there in time.

But for the last few years there has been this thread that has tied us to our technology, making it unheard of for us not to respond when a request was made.  We can be reached by text, tweet, message, email, and a billion other ways within seconds.  Our contacts can actually SEE when we have read a message and not responded, which fills the sender with a social anxiety akin to walking around school with toilet paper in your pants.

But at some point, this is al going to break us, isn’t it?  How long can we last being constantly available to the people who aren NOT in the same the room with us?  How long will it take for our brains to change and start to REQUIRE constant engagement (or perhaps it has already happened)  How long until we no longer know how to just be?

So I am here to tell you that it’s ok. It is okay not to respond right away. It is okay to assess the importance of an email and decide WHEN to respond.  It is okay to leave your phone at home when you go out for a bike ride (don’t use the camera excuse, they still make those! Bring a camera, you’ll get better pictures)

It is OKAY to miss things, we SHOULD miss things. We SHOULD be so busy living life, while others are living THEIR life that we can sit with them the next time we see them and update them on all the things they MISSED.

Turn off your phone, enjoy your weekends, forget it if you need an excuse for your friends.  Just give yourself and your brain a moment to turn off.

Let your contacts learn how to leave a message… it’s a dying skill.