You might have spotted our blog on the National Day of Unplugging, which encourages people to ditch the tech in favour of no-tech activities to improve health and wellbeing. An annual celebration, the day encourages everything from getting outdoors to playing a board game, reading a book to learning a new skill. Anything goes as long as you attempt to pass 24 hours with no mobile and no tech.

For us, National Day of Unplugging came at just the right time, coinciding with our March Miles challenge to compete within our team to cover the most miles on foot. It seemed a great opportunity to give it a go without phones; an even bigger challenge for a tech-obsessed company like we are!

So the question is, how did we do?

Not too bad, but not totally tech-free either! Oops! It turns out that 24 hours doesn’t feel like a long time, but it really is when you’re in the habit of using your phone and tech so frequently. It’s not just calls and texts, but apps and internet access that make this such a hard challenge! Perhaps the biggest pitfall was our competitive determination, with the team struggling to give up their exercise tracking apps, just to prove how many miles they walked, ran or cycled! There were also more than a handful of photos taken on phones, not to mention bragging texts with people sharing their achievements and spurring others on!

Still, all in all, every member of the team managed at least part of the day without access to tech, and even when they did grab their trusty mobiles, it was only for an hour or two. Here’s

  • Betsy enjoyed a sunny walk down the river in Worcester and shared glorious pictures with the rest of the team
  • Jamie was off wildlife watching with his daughter Eden, going low-tech and old-school with their trusty binoculars
  • Charlotte did her 4-mile walk but forgot to turn off her tracking app so reported in at 10 miles including the car journey. Thankfully she confessed before being teased for cheating!!!
  • Gail did her run in the sunshine
  • Claire enjoyed a beautiful walk in the countryside followed by gardening and a late lunch wrapped up in the sunshine with a bottle of white!

So there you have it! Our valiant attempt to go tech free for 24 hours was still great for the health and wellbeing, even if it wasn’t totally tech free!