I Survived Being Unplugged

Yes, the Sunday Column is coming to you on Monday. I couldn’t use my iPad yesterday. I survived being unplugged!

This week on the show (“The Pete Braley Show,” weekdays at 8 a.m. or anytime on YouTube), I asked my son and co-host Matt if he thought I could go a weekend being unplugged. Without missing a beat he said, “NO!” The rest of my family agreed.

Challenge Accepted!

I admit that I’m addicted to my phone, my iPad, Facebook and all the other sites. I don’t think of it as a bad habit, to me it’s more like a hobby. Are there times when I’m on my phone while the family is gathered and talking? Probably and if that bothers some I apologize. I don’t mean to be rude and I’ll try to be better. I just like learning new things and seeing what’s going on in the world. It helps with my writing and the new show.

How did it go?

Not bad.

My biggest problem was when I woke up Saturday morning and again Sunday morning. Both days I poured myself a cup of coffee and….proceeded to stare out the window.

There were a couple of times where something would come up and I would think to go and look it up…but I couldn’t do that.

I also found myself lost at times. I would sit down for five or ten minutes and then think, “Now what?” Those are times where I would automatically take out my phone to check Facebook or TikTok .

Curiosity got me when I went to bed Saturday night. I did look at my phone to check the battery and I didn’t even have to plug it in because it was still at 86%. I hardly used it. I’m usually at 10% or less.

Full disclosure

I did use my phone twice. Priscilla was out of town Saturday and did call me to check in. Since she was away I decided to take that call. The other time was when my daughter, Sarah, FaceTimed me with Liam. I told her I probably shouldn’t be doing that but she said avoiding my grandson would be a crime.

Sunday morning my daughter, Kat, asked me if I had heard about the Washington Nationals game the night before. The game was postponed because of gunfire. I said no. Then she asked if I had heard about the Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium where a fan threw a ball at Alex Verdugo. This time I said, “Where do you think I would of heard about these two things?” Oh yeah.

All in all it was a pretty good weekend. I didn’t find myself getting grumpy like I thought I would. Maybe it’s because I prepared myself. I didn’t miss watching TV at all. I read a lot and I think it even helped me get a good nights sleep. I’m not sure but I know I slept great Friday night. Maybe it was because I had no screens for seven hours before bed.

My wife did leave me a list of “Honey Do’s” so that helped and we tried out my new Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker and it came out rather yummy!

I did miss being informed a little but it was a nice break. Poor Facebook got worried about me. They sent two emails saying, “You have 43 notifications waiting for you! Are you okay?” It’s nice to know they care.

Try it, you’ll like it!

I would recommend you try it. Give yourself a break for a week. It’s good for you. As long as you don’t mind being alone with your thoughts.

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