Tip #7 for a Tech Healthy Summer: Spend Time Off the Grid

Nothing makes you realize how much you are used to something by its sudden absence. Technology is certainly one of these things we are used to having as a constant presence in our lives. For those of us who grew up prior to this connection (and interruption), extended time away from technology helps us recall they way things used to be. Technology is a powerful tool that has made our lives better, allows us to do more and be connected and communicate like never before possible. There are also some downsides to constant connection and the interruption by technology notifications attempting to gain our attention. 

One of my Top 10 Tips for a Tech Healthy Summer is to get off the grid and spend a few days or more tech free. Almost every summer I do that by taking a trip with my kids to the Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA), a wilderness of forests and lakes on the northern Minnesota/Canadian where the only method of transportation is paddling canoes and hiking. Visitors to the BWCA pack all their gear in gigantic Duluth packs and like the French Voyagers from hundreds of years ago, paddle across the lakes, carrying their gear and canoes over land in between each lake on their route. There is no cell phone signal, no electricity or running water and very few people.

A couple of weeks ago my eighth-grade son and I went on a trip for three nights in this wilderness on Pine Lake and our time off the grid was great. This was my 19th trip to the Boundary Waters and my son’s fifth trip. We spent time canoeing paddling, fishing, swimming, hiking, playing cards, reading and just hanging out together. I enjoy being disconnected from email and the Internet, having time to look around and appreciate nature while spending time with my son. I’m sure I would miss the comfort and convenience of a connection to the grid if our trip had been a lot longer--some people take trips that last weeks or more. 

I always am surprised at how quickly the relaxation and carefree feeling of time away ends as we return to the grid. After we get to our car and drive about a half an hour back into civilization, our phones pick up a connection and begin buzzing and beeping with missed messages and other items. I’ve written in the past about my efforts to cut out technology distractions and the importance of self-monitoring how much time I spend with technology overall, something I call tecognition. I worry somewhat that my kids have spent so little time off of the grid disconnected. I hope that my kids will remember these experiences off the grid and that it will help them be better at recognizing what how technology can create interruptions in their lives. 

Even if you can't get away from the grid and make it impossible to disconnect, you can make an effort to take a break. Consider taking a trip or even spending a few hours relaxing, keeping your phone off as long as you can (or in airplane mode with WiFi off and Do No Disturb mode on). If you have children, help them experience time off the grid, too. Afterwards, be sure to have conversations discussing how it went, how it felt, and the role that we let technology control and interrupt us. Take steps to take control of your technology and turn off unnecessary notifications for social media, news, sports scores, and whatever else buzzes or beeps during your day that isn't essential for you to be alerted about at any given moment. Help your kids do this, too.

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Techcognition in an Attention Economy

Sunset on Sawbill Lake in northern Minnesota, 

With three colleagues in Chicago for the
Schoology NEXT Conference.

Last week in less than a 24 hour period, I left the Schoology NEXT conference in downtown Chicago, flew home to Minneapolis, picked up my four kids and camping gear, and spent the next four days on Sawbill Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). It was quite a transition from a tech conference in the city filled with skyscrapers and millions of people to the remote wilderness completely off the grid!

The BWCA is a national forest campground with over a million acres of lakes and forests in northern Minnesota on the Canadian border. There is no electricity, no running water, no motorized vehicles, and no roads. You travel by canoe and portage (carry) your gear over the land between them, which can be a short path or very, very long hike.

I believe this was my 17th year camping in the BWCA: my dad first took me in high school and then nine years ago we started bringing my own kids. Dad "retired" from these trips about four years ago and my college roommate joined me, helping with all the gear, cooking, and work. (My wife stays home and enjoys her time alone for a few days.) My kids started going when they were between the ages of three and five, and starting last year all four were old enough to join in the fun. The BWCA is a great place to spend time together, relax, swim, explore, observe nature, fish, play cards, read books, and disconnect.  I only used my phone as a camera.

I spent a lot of time thinking about being off the grid and aware that I was not connected or on a screen over those four days in the BWCA. You can really notice how much time you spend on a screen when it suddenly is not available. There wasn't any technology prompting me for my attention. There was no way to check in and see if I'd missed anything, either. 

The day after I returned home, I heard yet another fascinating (and timely) WNYC's Note to Self podcast episode entitled, The Attention Economy: What is Our Attention Actually Worth? In the episode, Manoush Zomorodi interviews Tristan Harris, a tech entrepreneur and design ethicist, who explains that some tech companies design for and get paid by the amount of time they can hold our attention in an app/program/device. Tristan wants to change this, and I hope he (we) can. He tells an interesting background story about the original designers of AirBnB, who originally measured the success of their service based on the positive time/value add that hosts and guests collectively reported about their stays and time together. Imagine focusing on a positive metric like that... versus bottom line profits based on how much time you can just grab someone's attention, taking them away from those around them, their thoughts, or just some down time! It's encouraging to hear that someone in Silicon Valley is thinking about designing technology to not demand more of our attention, and I hope other developers will adopt this way of thinking.

I believe that one of the essential skills we can teach our children as parents and educators is an awareness of how they spend their time with technology, how frequently, and the value of their interaction with it. As we see both them and ourselves being engaged and more dependent on screens and technology, it seems that it will be even more difficult in the future to recall life before this constant connection and screen presence. I wonder if future generations will even have times where they are just lost in their own thoughts in silence, or be with one another without technology present? I believe it is important to provide kids with experiences off the grid and/or away from technology so they know what it is like, as well as to frequently discuss an awareness of their use of and reliance on technology. 

Techcognition- an awareness and understanding
of one's own use of technology

Metacognition is the awareness and understanding of one's own thought processes. Perhaps now we need a term for the awareness and understanding of one's own use of technology. How about techcognition (or technognition)? I hope to help my own children and today's students with their techcognition skills. I want to help them learn balanced vs. addicted or distracted use. Technology is certainly here to stay. It is essential and beneficial in numerous ways. Helping today's kids learn to be cognizant of their interactions with it can only help prepare them for a future that will be even more connected than things are today.  

If you have never been to the BWCA, I highly recommend it. If you're fearful of what to pack or how to do it, there are plenty of outfitters and even guide services. I'd be happy to recommend something, just let me know. (Chicago is a great place to visit, too, but for different reasons.)

Related posts: 

• Technology & Relationships
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• New Year's Resolution: 3 Ways to Cut Back on Digital Distractions
• My First Apple Watch: Solution to Distraction?
• The Next Tech Thing: 10 Days Without Email
• KARE 11 News: Helping Kids Make Good Digital Decisions
• March Madness Boss Button: Adults Get Distracted, too!