Unplugged for 24 Hours: A Challenge to Get Offline

The Global Day of Unplugging takes place every year during the first weekend of March, from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. The goal is to foster authentic human connection outside the digital space by encouraging people to disconnect from their devices and get offline, if only for a day.

In the spirit of this event, we’d like to extend this challenge to the 16Personalities community. We cordially invite each one of you to unplug for 24 hours.

Was your first reaction to that invitation to think, But my whole life is online!?

We get it. After all, 16Personalities is a 100% online platform, so this challenge might seem a bit ironic coming from us. But over the last 20 years, the internet has become ingrained in our day-to-day lives. We work and study online, connect with dates, message friends and family, stream music, listen to podcasts, watch TV, play games, do our banking, and consume news – all through devices connected to the internet.

It can be a real challenge to limit screen time, let alone take a break from technology, when so much of what we do happens online. In many ways, the internet is inescapable.

Unfortunately, all this connectedness can have some pretty serious health consequences. Poor sleep, strained mental health, and an increase in the physical complications usually associated with a sedentary lifestyle are common, to name just a few. All kinds of studies have linked excessive screen time to declines in cognitive function, including impaired memory and concentration. And even though some personality types might not think it’s a big deal (we’re looking at you, Introverts), social skills can also take a hit from constantly interacting with others through devices rather than in person.

Whether we want to admit it or not, being constantly connected is not really in our best interests. We know it can feel unnerving to think about going tech-free – even if only for 24 hours – so we’ve come up with this handy guide to unplugging, complete with practical tips and insights on how certain personality traits may come into play.

The Preliminary Work: Pay Attention to Your Habits

Before you can conscientiously reduce screen time, and to make sure that your 24 unplugged hours are a success, it’s helpful to become more aware of how you spend your time plugged in – and how your personality traits may play a role in your online habits. Here, we’ll walk you through four steps that can help you do that.

Step One: Identify and Track Essential vs. Nonessential Usage

First figure out how much of your screen time is essential. Then pay close attention to how much and what kind of nonessential screen time you are getting.

Essential internet use describes the nonnegotiable tasks that we must do online. This includes work, activities associated with school, and other life maintenance chores like paying bills.

Nonessential use includes activities like gaming, flipping through social media, streaming shows, or editing your latest dance challenge video. This also includes using the internet for background noise – listening to podcasts, streaming music, and the like.

At this point, the goal is simply to take stock of what you are doing online.

Step Two: Analyze Online Social Habits

Social media makes it easy to connect with people virtually – and all too easy to lose track of time. People with certain personality traits may be especially likely to go online to seek social connection.

Extraverts, for example, who tend to relish all forms of social connection, are the most likely personality types to report that they log into social media sites multiple times a day. Turbulent and Feeling personalities are the most likely to say they often turn to social media as a form of social and emotional support. Sensitive to stress and tuned in to their emotions, Turbulent and Feeling personalities, respectively, may find that social media offers an instant outlet for their desire for social support.

But people with the Turbulent and Feeling personality traits are also more likely to struggle with an unfortunately prominent and uncomfortable side effect of social media: social comparison. Comparing ourselves to other people online, where we are exposed to an infinite barrage of individuals and lifestyles, is a natural impulse, but many studies have found that this habit can have a negative impact on our mental health and well-being.

Assertive and Thinking personalities are certainly not immune to the temptation of social comparison – they just tend to do it less often. They’re also significantly less likely to let those comparisons impact their sense of self-worth, their confidence, and their overall emotional state.

If cutting back on social media feels daunting, it may be helpful to keep in mind that our research suggests that most people, regardless of their personality type, find the social connections that they’ve forged in person to be more meaningful and fulfilling.

Step Three: Do a Boredom Check

Another influential factor in internet use is boredom. While it’s common to turn to the internet when we’re bored, certain personality types may be especially prone to this habit.

People with the Prospecting personality trait are among the most likely to report frequently feeling bored. This may be because of their strong tendency to crave novelty or out of a sense of frustration with their everyday routine. In addition, Prospecting and Turbulent types are the most likely personality types – significantly more likely than their Judging and Assertive counterparts – to admit that they often cope with boredom by doing something unhealthy.

This isn’t to say that going online because your mind craves stimulation is inherently unhealthy. But the internet, in all its gloriously diverse presentations, offers endless quick fixes for boredom. And while video games, social media, and streaming entertainment are not harmful on their own, a person can quickly develop the tendency to lean on technology to cure chronic restlessness and boredom. And let’s admit it – there are plenty of ways to distract yourself online that are unhealthy.

Step Four: Check In on Your Body and Emotions

When preparing to unplug, it’s helpful to pay attention to the very real emotions and physical sensations that are connected to your use of technology. This kind of reflection will likely come more naturally to Intuitive personality types, but it’s a helpful exercise for everyone.

Do those two hours a day scrolling through videos leave you feeling self-conscious or inadequate? Does your back hurt from those late-night hours of gaming and a lack of physical activity?

Make a Plan: Practical Steps for Achieving Your Goal

Once you have done some serious introspection in preparation for this challenge, it’s time to plan for success!

It may not be realistic for you to completely unplug for 24 hours, which is okay and understandable. But, hopefully, by this point, you have an idea of how you can at least cut back on excessive tech use.

So here’s what you’ll want to do:

1. Set a Goal

If you want to take up this 24-hour challenge, you already have a fairly clear goal. Otherwise, set a goal that you know you can handle to help you rein in your tech use. An example of this might be, I am not going to scroll through social media while I wait for the bus or the train.

You could also say, I will limit gaming to only one hour during the challenge. Or, if you’re setting long-term goals, try, I will meet up with friends in real life at least once a week.

2. Identify Alternative Activities

For your 24-hour unplugged challenge, consider creating an itinerary of fun activities to keep yourself occupied throughout the day. For starters, you can pick out which book you’ll keep handy to read during downtime or plan a visit to the local park.

If you can’t do the whole challenge but want to cut back on screen time in general, you can still do this! Simply identify offline alternatives to your favorite online activities that you can incorporate into your normal routine.

For those people who cure boredom with gaming, maybe you can start a weekly tabletop role-playing game night – in person. For those who love to passively observe other people’s lives, head to the local park for some people-watching. If social connection is your thing, plan an in-person meetup with your friends.

3. Set Up a Support System

Speaking of friends, consider inviting them to participate in this challenge with you. If you want to go it alone, you should still find people you can tell and ask them to hold you accountable. It’s not easy to interrupt online behavioral patterns, so it’s important to have someone to turn to when your resolve wavers.

It’s Challenge Day! Time to Unplug!

When the big day comes to unplug, you might feel a little unnerved. But you’ve got this! Stick to your plan and enjoy your day.

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind to make sure your 24 hours are successful.

1. Turn Off All Screens While Eating

Focus on your food and the company you are sharing it with. If you’re eating on your own and need to stimulate your mind while munching away, consider picking up a book, a newspaper, or maybe even a crossword puzzle or sudoku game. If it’s a beautiful day, get outside and have a picnic, if only on your patio!

2. Embrace Busy Work

Many times, we look at our screen because our phone or tablet is what we have in our hands. Replace it. Grab some yarn and knitting needles or pick up some paints or colored pencils. Tackle that DIY project that you never seem to have time for. You’ll be amazed at what you can do when you put your phone down and replace it with a project.

3. Remove Screen Temptation from the Bedroom

Experts recommend removing TVs, smartphones, and tablets from your bedroom altogether. If that’s not possible, a good alternative is to turn everything off and disconnect – if not for the whole day, at least for an hour before you go to sleep. Leave phones and tablets well out of arm’s reach.

4. Don’t Forget to Check In and Reflect

As you take your break from technology or cut back on screen time in general, don’t forget to check in with yourself periodically. How are you doing emotionally? Are you feeling better physically? Have you discovered any interests that you never knew you had?

Final Thoughts

If the simple act of unplugging on a regular basis can help improve our relationships, sharpen our focus and attention, and feel better about ourselves – what is stopping us from doing so?

Periodically going tech-free, if only for a day or a few hours, is a powerful way to push ourselves into developing new habits that are better for us.

So, again, we invite you to challenge yourself and go unplugged for 24 hours. But we also invite you to use this internet fast as an opportunity to engage in self-reflection and find the inspiration that you need to more conscientiously balance your online activities and overall tech use. Your mental and physical health will thank you for it.

What do you think your biggest hurdles would be in unplugging for a day? Let us know in the comments if you’re up for the challenge.

Further Reading

• Not sure what your predominant personality traits are? Take our free personality test and find out!
• A Day Without Internet, by Personality Type
• Going Small: A Gentle Approach to Change for All Personality Types
• 11 Ways Turbulent Introverts Can Build Confidence and Sociability