How often do you "unplug"?

About every 3 weeks we drive 3 or 4 hours to the Bay Area. Usually I listen to music on the drive, and almost no news on television while there.
I do DVR my news shows while gone, and catch up when I get home.

My radio in my car has been broken since November last year, and I’ve made no effort to replace it. I work early, and I enjoy the drive in the cool mornings with the windows down. I have a commute that allows me to drive on a oneway street and usually hit all the lights green at that early hour.

I do not watch TV at all.

I get my news from some morning emails from some reliable sources, and on many occasions depending on my emotional state, I will choose to read them or simply delete them.

My peace of mind is vital.

I typically listen to music in the car, or sometimes books on tape or podcasts that are unrelated to current events. Driving is stressful enough these days, I don’t need to have it compounded with feelings of anger and disgust.

I unplug from politics for weeks at a time Monday through Saturday.

I turn everything off and enjoy the silence a couple of times a week, but I am usually on social media when I do it.

I drive in silence about 50% of the time. I drive 4–5 times a week for about 45 minutes total each day.

I never unplug from music. I never unplug from nature.

I unplug from the phone, TV, computer, work every single day and take it seriously.
My phone ringer is always on silent. Family does get overrides if they call.

Hey @Forever_Free Our phones are set the same way! Mine has a do not disturb function if I place it face down. It’s face down a lot.

When I am in the car I listen to NPR but that is not so often now.

I only get news from my Bing page headlines, which are small enough to easily ignore or do away with entirely if I want to.

TV is on almost all of the time, but mostly unwatched. In the evenings I do watch though, often a Netflix series. Never ever on the news – either a channel or local news. Often it’s something like The Andy Griffith Show or something similar just for company.

I don’t listen to enough music and I miss it, but it tends to trigger emotions that are sad and depressing. Maybe I listen to the wrong music. I rarely listen to anything in the car.

Not often enough but more than in the past. Here’s a relevant cartoon that says it all. It’s by Sipress from the New Yorker.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQuWhC96WTsQ-L_XXQ5Txon86Cr2vYKisvewPIWRzc0Mw&s

I am unplugged more than I am plugged in. I spend some time on a desktop computer most days. When I work I generally need to use the computer, at least the production software. I don’t live with a mobile phone turned on and for the most part social media is not my thing. I enjoy sites like this to anything that includes news, censorship, celebrity opinions, and 1,000s of fools.

I only have a two mile drive to work, so even though I have a working radio, I don’t usually bother to put it on. And I barely watch any TV anymore, so my phone is my main nemesis. Still, I like to stay informed, but I like to budget my time on my phone.

I listen to music in the car, or sometimes NPR. I don’t make a conscious decision to unplug, but will not usually look at my phone if I’m at an event or visiting friends and family, or traveling, sometimes for hours. Often in the evening, I won’t look at the phone or go on social media if I’m relaxing, watching TV. I realize watching TV is not within the category of “unplugging.”

@jca2 it’s nice to know that somebody else still finds it this courteous to get on their phone when they’re at a restaurant, etc. My sisters do that now and I just don’t understand. If they were checking to see if their husband texted them or something, that’s one thing, but not to sit there and just scroll through whatever on your phone. A meal at a restaurant takes maybe 2 hours. Can you not respect your friends and family enough to put your phone down for that time?

@LifeQuestioner I have a friend who is like that. The phone is on the table and she’s constantly looking at it, tapping it, scrolling through it, and it’s constantly making pinging sounds and she has to pick it up and tap tap tap. Her long nails go tap tap every time she touches it. It’s very annoying. It’s like compulsive that she has to pick it up and look at it.

@jca2 that’s one reason why I have all my notifications on silent, unless there’s some kind of family crisis going on of course. I don’t need the constant ping ping ping annoying me while I’m trying to read or whatever. I just maybe pick it up every half an hour to an hour or so and see if anybody has texted me. Sometimes it’s not even that often depending on if I’m deeply engaged in something. And never while I’m at a restaurant with friends or family.

Me too, @LifeQuestioner. This person (who happened to be my boss for a while) would have the phone pinging during work meetings. How annoying is that? It’s actually considered rude because it’s disruptive, not only at work but in personal settings as well. I think, but I’m not positive, that it discharges the battery faster as well, when the notifications are set to sound.