The first Punkt. Digital Detox Challenge, Summer 2016

In July 2016 we ran the first Punkt. Digital Detox Challenge. And what exactly was the Challenge? Simply to live without a smartphone for minimum of 48 hours. Punkt. selected 40 participants (journalists and members of the public) from a total of over a thousand applicants and issued them with an MP01 to use during their two days of reconnection. The outcome? Some found it easier than others, with a few actually quitting mid-way through. From Down Under to The Dolomites, participant reports cover just about everything from family reunions to the realities of going digital cold turkey. People's favourite pastimes without internet? Photography, reading books, talking, staring into space and playing with their children.

What satisfying, simple pleasures life has to offer!

What satisfying, simple pleasures life has to offer!

Ruarí Ødegaard

During my digital detox I slept better. Without something to look at at night, I relaxed and went to sleep. I spent my waking moments interacting with my daughter, rather than flicking through...
Dan's MP01 by Punkt. 1

Constant Connection is Meaning-less

Dan Hill

Using the MP01 is like suddenly being whisked from a polluted, hyper-stimulated over-branded Oxford Street to the side of a deep blue lake surrounded by distant mountains and drawing in a long breath...

Going Back To Basics With Jasper Morrison’s – Punkt MP01 Phone

Gemma Johnson

As you’ve probably gathered by now, I’m big into trying different experiences that feed my desire to simplify my life from electronics, helping me to seek out the right balance of my...
Alexandra's MP01 by Punkt. 1

I love the MP01, but I can't give up my iPhone

Alexandra Plesner

I did not manage the challenge. Effectively even when I am on holiday and refuse social media, I still use the phone as a camera and GPS to navigate through unknown places and Uber to take me home. I...
Life’s Too Short To Spend it Online

Life’s Too Short To Spend it Online

Jörg Tittel

A few days before starting the Challenge, my wife Alex and I deactivated our personal Facebook accounts, leaving only our company Oiffy and latest project pages (White King Film, Ricky Rouse Hasa...
Escaping the Matrix

Escaping the Matrix

Luke Davies

What was I doing? My life was in my iPhone - my friends, my camera, Instagram, Twitter and the weather (I'm British, this is essential) and I was about to turn it off for entire weekend for a...
The right tool for the right job

The right tool for the right job

Ryan Chapman

Prior to being selected to take part in the Punkt. MP01 Digital Detox Challenge, giving up my smartphone and restoring some type of work/life balance was something I had been pondering for some time....
48 hours, sans smartphone.

48 hours, sans smartphone.

J. Alex Cooney

I noticed it within minutes. I would check and there it wasn't. I was free! I'm talking about the notification bar spanning the top of every smartphone, and after only a few minutes with the...
Charlie Lyons with Punkt. 1

It is liberating, no question

Charlie Lyons

The MP01 is a conversation starter like no other My initial thought when I took the phone out for the first time was that people would adopt an attitude of “Why are you...
Comfortably disconnected

Comfortably disconnected

Dave Cochrane

So – I was selected to undertake a 48hr “digital detox” by Punkt., with only the delectably slight MP01 handset to keep me company. I’d admired the handset for a while;...
Making More Room for Thought

Making More Room for Thought

Jan Weidemüller

As one of the first smartphone users years ago, I feel disappointed about the direction we are heading. Smartphones have taken over our lives, instead of actually improving them. I started my...
360 hours without my iPhone. (And counting.)

360 hours without my iPhone. (And counting.)

Stephen Kinsella

Like most of my generation, I live in, and on, my iPhone 6. This is not hyperbole. The fantastic (and rather scary) Moment App tells me I spend 8% of my waking life accessing my iPhone. I pick it up...
Taking control of tech

Taking control of tech

Tomas Tvarijonas

48 hour digital detox challenge was great. So great, in fact, that now it turned into a 72 hour digital detox challenge. And counting. I am on my holiday now and being able to pack light, leave...
When good is just not enough.

When good is just not enough.

Silvestre Fernandez

I started this challenge positive, wanting a change in my life, embracing the gorgeous item I had been given and facing the difficulties ahead with a happy face.  The first day of this...
Contented when disconnected.

Contented when disconnected.

Jean-Paul Hackett

The knock at the door was anticipated. The courier driver muttered something in a thick Welsh accent and handed me a small brown box. The box had come from the Swiss company Punkt., and in it was a...
What happens when a grown man gives up Instagram for the weekend

What happens when a grown man gives up Instagram for the weekend

William Fowler

I’m pretty sure I’m addicted to my phone. OK, if you can plot all addictions on an axis of intensity and harmfulness that runs from freebase cocaine (very addictive, extremely harmful)...
Digital Detox: pros and cons

Digital Detox: pros and cons

Vernon Baker

I digitally-detoxed for a week while on vacation with my family. The MP01 phone was just the right tool for cutting free from the torrent of distraction and frenetic trivialities of social media,...
Offline as the new luxury

Offline as the new luxury

Alberto Zilio

I think off-line is the new luxury. We are living always connected and that’s a great thing – technology evolves at an unprecedented pace. Sometimes though, we need to go back to basics...
Trading convenience for peace of mind

Trading convenience for peace of mind

Gerard Nijenbrinks

I successfully completed my digital detox challenge with the MP01, and extended it to 120 hours instead of 48. This was one of the easiest challenges to fulfil. The MP01 is actually very hard to...
48 hours without my smartphone: I survived

48 hours without my smartphone: I survived

Bianca Ferrari

Read this report in Italian: 48 ore senza smartphone: sono sopravvissuta I survived 48 hours without my smartphone, for the Digital Detox Challenge with Punkt. and the new MP01 Mobile Phone. The...
A Good Excuse To Switch-off

A Good Excuse To Switch-off

Erin Jo Richey

During my digital detox weekend, in addition to switching my iPhone off, I wanted to get away from my computer. Turning off my iPhone meant saying goodbye to Instagram, Snapchat, and Pokemon Go. But...
The Trials and Tribulations of A Digital Detox

The Trials and Tribulations of A Digital Detox

Laura Rebecca

For 48 hours I stowed my fancy phablet in a drawer and popped my SIM card into the Punkt. MP01 for their Digital Detox challenge. Here’s what happened: Hour one: No...
What works for you?

What works for you?

Jamie Black

Since the first iPhone came out I have lived in 9 different places on three continents. During this time I have always had a smartphone. Last week, I went back in time and tried using a mobile phone...
Punkt. Challenge: easier than I thought.

Punkt. Challenge: easier than I thought.

Torsten Schmitt

It was easier than I thought (I am working in an M&A context, with hundreds of emails a day 24/7 and permanent availability). So found your idea a great way of stepping back a bit. After switching...