I successfully completed my digital detox challenge with the MP 01, and extended it to 120 hours instead of 48. This was one of the easiest challenges to fulfil.
The MP 01 is actually very hard to put away; it’s such a pleasure to communicate with, to carry with you, to hold and to look at. Other people I met during the five day detox were impressed by the phone and its design. Some of my friends even bought one, or are planning to do so after hearing about my experience!
I sent you a postcard by snail mail, it's a picture of the Peace Palace in our city of The Hague. I found it to be appropriate as the MP 01 brings peace of mind as well. It gives the user a certain ease of mind, something which you don't want to lose again.
I learned that I’m not that addicted to my smartphone. I hardly felt the urge to look at it, to check messages or email. I don't have my email sent to my smartphone automatically by the way, I have to get it manually.
However, without the latest bells and whistles I did miss some convenient functions of my smartphone. Text (SMS), Whatsapp and Facebook messaging are all pretty similar, so not having them didn’t faze me much, but I did realise that other people rely on them quite heavily and had to get used to contacting me by text message alone. I ended up making more phone calls, which I found personal and pleasant.
Not having the following functions was really annoying.
Well, I guess that was my digital detox challenge, and above are the comments I could make about it. I will end my challenge at Instagram and Twitter now as well. I'm still very, very happy that I was able to take part, and I'm convinced that the MP 01 gained a place in my day-to-day life for a long time to come.
Gerard Nijenbrinks
Twitter @nijenbrinks
Instagram @gerardnijenbrinks