Making Time for... Nothing!

I am old enough to have come of age before there were smartphones. In fact, there weren't even mobile phones, except for those giant boxy units that were the size of a briefcase and weighed more than a large bottle of milk.

When smartphones became a thing, I resisted getting one for the longest time. I was perfectly content with my old fashioned flip phone which didn't really do anything other than receive phone calls and do some limited texting.

Of course, I gave in and now have the same kind of smartphone that pretty much everybody else in the world carries around, although I'm no slave to having "the latest and greatest."

Part of me misses the days before we "needed" to check our phones every 30 seconds in case somebody had called, or messaged, or emailed, or there was some update or news.

I honestly don't think the human brain is designed to be "always on" the way we have to be always alert and aware when we are anchored to our devices. One of the things I really liked about life in the 1980s was the fact that there were periods — from time to time — where we were basically stuck doing nothing.

We might be waiting for a bus, waiting for a friend to arrive at the train station, or waiting to get in to see the doctor. We found ourselves with somewhere from 10 to 30 minutes in which there was absolutely nothing to do other than be alone with our thoughts, and with the environment around us.

In truth, there's actually something healing about that. Sitting still and doing nothing allows your brain to disconnect from being always on, and perhaps grab a moment free from the subtle sense of anxiety that goes with constantly being aware that there might be some message or information that we didn't check.

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article that included some statistics about device usage over time. At the rate it is growing, we are rapidly approaching a point at which the only time we won't be looking at our phones will be while we are sleeping. And we're actually sleeping less and less and declaring it "enough" even while often feeling both mentally and physically tired.

As technology keeps creeping in, I have chosen to consciously have "nothing time" in my life... usually time when I get up and just go sit on the sofa in the living room, no phone, no TV, no books... just nothing.

And I definitely feel better for it!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great remainder of your week!

How about YOU? How do you feel about taking breaks to do absolutely nothing? How do you feel when your devices are not readily available? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 2026.07.21 01:15PDT
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