So You Want To Unplug?
Let’s be honest: most of us don’t just use technology – it’s our I.V. If it’s not your phone, it’s the TV. If it’s not the TV, it’s your laptop. If you missed the National Day of Unplugging (March 6th, 2026), let’s talk about what it really means to step away from doomscrolling, burnout, and the endless refresh button, and how to build a healthier relationship with tech without moving to a cabin in the woods (unless you want to).
Ten years ago, I used to wake up and check Facebook, then Instagram, then email, then Facebook again…and maybe email one more time before even taking a sip of water. Before even checking in with myself. My eyes weren’t fully open, but my apps were.
It didn’t feel good. I knew that. But I didn’t know how to stop.
Eventually, it started affecting my schoolwork. So I did something drastic (for 2016), I deleted Facebook and Instagram from my phone and only accessed them from my computer. Which, yes, was just moving from one plug to another.
Then I added a browser extension of 30 minutes a day. When my time was up, it told me. Sometimes I ignored it. Sometimes I didn’t. Eventually, I reduced it to five minutes. Five. And eventually, my internal clock started kicking in. Even when the extension disappeared, I knew when I’d hit my limit. I had retrained my brain.
I built awareness. I chose me. I broke the cycle.
Tech has only grown louder since then. Faster. More addictive. I say this because if you’re tired of doomscrolling, tired of feeling wired but exhausted, tired of that weird post-scroll guilt…there’s a way out.
UNPLUG.
If you have a pulse and technology feels like your IV drip, this is for you.
If boredom automatically equals screen time, this is for you.
If you’ve ever closed an app and immediately reopened it like it might have changed in 13 seconds… this is definitely for you.
What It Looks Like to Unplug
Unplugging doesn’t have to mean disappearing into the wilderness for a month (although we support that too). It can be half a day. An hour. A single intentional moment.
Start low. Go slow.
This isn’t about shame. It’s about awareness. Technology impacts our mental and emotional state in very real ways. You don’t quit caffeine cold turkey – you taper. Same concept.
How to Unplug
1. Recognize Your Pattern
When do you reach for your phone?
When you’re bored? Lonely? Avoiding something? Lying in bed at night?
Awareness is the first trail marker. You can’t reroute if you don’t know where you’re wandering.
2. Set a Mindfulness Timer
Use your phone’s built-in screen time tracker. Download an app. Have a friend set the password so you can’t override it when your willpower gets shaky.
Think of it like setting a turnaround time in the backcountry. When the alarm goes off, you don’t argue with the mountain. You turn around. Same energy.
3. Take a 5-Minute Walk Instead
When you feel the urge to scroll, step outside. No fancy gear. No tracking app. No podcast. Just you and your feet.
Day or night. Around the block. Stand on your porch. Look at the sky like a human being from 1994.
4. Spend Time With Yourself (Micro Self-Care Counts)
When we’re tired at home, we default to the phone because it requires nothing from us. No thinking. No effort.
Instead, try something light:
Chop vegetables and cook a simple meal.
Read five pages.
Make tea and actually sit while you drink it.
It doesn’t have to be profound. It just has to be intentional.
5. Journal (Even If It Starts With “I Don’t Know What to Write”)
Free writing is wild. You sit down thinking you have nothing to say and suddenly you’ve uncovered why you’re stressed, what you’re avoiding, or what you actually want.
Start with: I don’t know what to write.
That counts.
6. Get Grounded
Stretch. Take five slow breaths. Lie on the floor. Touch something real – grass, dirt, your dog, a countertop.
In the backcountry, we ground ourselves constantly. We check the weather. We check the map. We check in with our bodies.
In the front country? We refresh Instagram.
Try checking in with yourself instead.
7. Disable Notifications
Your phone does not need to vibrate every time someone posts, comments, likes, or coughs online.
Turn off non-essential notifications. Protect your attention like you protect your water source in the backcountry.
8. List Your Gratefuls
In wilderness therapy, we named the gratefuls throughout the day. Not once. Multiple times.
Grateful for warm socks.
Grateful for dry weather.
Grateful for the sun.
In daily life, it might be:
Grateful for hot coffee.
Grateful for my legs.
Grateful for that one friend who always answers.
9. Do the Thing You’re Avoiding
Start the project. Have the conversation. Fold the laundry.
The relief afterward feels better than 45 minutes of content consumption ever will.
10. Slow Down
You don’t need to consume every headline. You don’t need to know everything immediately. You don’t need to fill every quiet second.
In the backcountry, we unplug because we have to. No service. Limited battery. We ration power. We conserve energy. We’re intentional.
What if we treated our daily lives the same way?
What if your attention was your battery pack?
What if your nervous system was your GPS?
What if you didn’t burn through both before noon?
Going Forward
Tech isn’t disappearing. Neither are we.
The day I decided I wanted my life back was the day I stopped letting technology decide how I spent my mornings, my boredom, my energy. It’s easy to unplug when you’re camping. You don’t have service. The choice is made for you. The challenge (and the opportunity) is to bring that same mindset into the front country. You still get to choose.
So make National Day of Unplugging a daily thing, ask yourself:
If you didn’t scroll… what would you do instead?
About the Gear Tester
Amber Davis
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