Let's switch off the phone for 24 hours

It was Sunday late morning. I was waiting for my ride to Pune, Koyana Express on 'Naral Railway Station'. From last 20 minutes my phone was buzzing like anything, continues alert notification on my way to Naral Station from Matheran. Thanks to a smart phone, I had set the different beeps sounds for SMS, WhatsApp, Hike, Facebook, Instagram and many other social media apps, hence could recognize what all alerts were there for. Though I ignored all till I reach the station, but can't hold my ignorance more than 10 minutes. Soon found relax bench on the platform to get busy with my 'Smart Phone'.

So here are the details what notification were buzzing on my 4.7 inch Nokia Lumia 920 Windows phone, 108 Office Mails, 200+ personal emails (Gmail and Hotmail), 278 WhatsApp messages, 13 SMS, 5 Hike Messages, 72 Facebook and 23 Instagram alerts. I'm not social personality nor any celebrity. I'm a normal guy who was out of network for 49 hours only, from 9 AM Friday till 10:00 AM Sunday. In short 108+200+278+13+5+72+23 = 699/ 49 = 14.3, so 14-15 messages per hour...!!! I had never calculated or give damn towards how many messages I go through in 24 hours. These numbers tell the story how much time I spent on my mobile screen. When I comprehend those messages and numbers in details, I found 90% for the alerts, messages are irrelevant for me and my life. It seems that a Smart phone is smartly using me to disturb to myself, isn't it?

Those three days were best days I spent after a long time. No calls or another way of communication with anyone except close friends whom I am with, We were talking face to face rather over Gtalk or Facebook. Expressing yourself with face emotions are the better way to express or convey your feelings than chat emoji. Though my network less brick was very useful. I used it for Torch when there was no electricity or late evening walk outside the hotel, Camera to capture some good moments and to get up from a deep sleep so alarm.

From last few years, it's our annual get together with friends and this is the 3rd time we been to Matheran. But this I felt the difference between being in Network and out of Network. The time has changed and so we are. We are stuck in this mobile network, like a zoo animal, who stuck in caged behind the bar. Try anything we can't go beyond this self-created social media cage.

Life is more beautiful outside of the 4.7-inch screen. No need to go to Matheran to experience that, need the courage to switch off the mobile for at least 24 hours when you are on holidays. Easy it sounds but difficult to do. We are so connected to that virtual world that we like to update our FB status or tell the world that where we are, than checking our self-mental status where we are. No, we don't just stop there, we then regularly check those photos and count the likes, comments and reply to those comments. What kind of holiday we need? Rejuvenating holiday to refresh yourself or updating unimportant people about your personal life... :)

Lets dare to switch off the phone for 24 hours and enjoy the world out of screen.