It might seem odd for a telecoms & IT company to be extolling the virtues of a day without tech, but that’s exactly what we’re doing! It’s all part of the “National Day of Unplugging” which happens annually for 24 hours on the first weekend in March – this year, that’s 5-6 March 2021. It is a campaign which promotes a respite from technology, in favour of personal health and wellbeing, with many schools, religious groups, businesses, and individuals pledging to go tech-free over the weekend. While we appreciate many offices are closed for the weekend, that doesn’t mean you can’t do your bit to encourage your teams, make a pledge, and get everyone to focus on their mental health and human connections.
The brilliant thing is that unlike other national ‘days’, the National Day of Unplugging has a brilliant range of resources and activities that you can take advantage of for free. They have even created a list of 50+ things you can do for free, although with a bit of creative thinking, you can probably come up with your own! Looking through the suggestions, some of our team favourites include:
- Fort building at home – who can resist being a big kid?
- Dusting off the board games for an evening of family fun
- Designing a scavenger hunt for the family or local community that can be completed at a social distance, as part of your daily exercise
- Pavement chalk art to add a little cheer to your local streets
- Pop on some music (CDs and Vinyl only of course!) and dance like nobody is watching
- Declutter and donate – particularly your old tech. Phones, PCs, Laptops, Tablets, Games Consoles and basically any other gadget that’s ready to go. If it’s working, find it a new home. If it isn’t, find a safe way to recycle it, so that its component can go on to become something else (we can help with secure laptop and PC recycling).
Sound like a plan? What will you be doing and how can you use National Day of Unplugging to inspire health and wellbeing in your team?