May 22, 2024

Last weekend, I took a trip back to the '80s.

 I stayed in the building above, which speaks for itself.

There was no wireless internet and no cell signal. Bluetooth was not allowed, nor was any digital photography outside of a very small area.

My phone was basically a useless brick.

A gaggle of children rode bikes around the property without any adult supervision until almost 11 pm.

At one point, we ate these kinds of popsicles:

And people legitimately looked up numbers in the phone book and made calls using this phone:

This wasn't a fancy retro vacation experience, in case you're wondering. I was visiting the Green Bank Observatory in WV as part of a homeschool field trip. Because of the radio telescopes on the property, you cannot use microwaves or wireless internet within 10 square miles (although you can connect devices via wired ethernet connection). There's no cell signal for at least 30 minutes in any direction. No step counters or sleep trackers. No checking the time on your phone.

I'm not writing to tell you about the Observatory itself, which was amazing and you should definitely go if you get a chance, but instead to share the almost eerie feeling of being completely disconnected from technology most of the time.

It was disconcerting for a few hours, and after that, once we all stopped reflexively checking our phones, it was glorious. I spent most of the time reading a book or talking to the other kids and parents on the trip.

It's interesting how much easier it is to disconnect for the sake of something/someone else (in this case, to avoid messing up the data being collected) versus just because you know that theoretically disconnecting periodically is healthy.

This reminds me to explore motivation and inspiration with my clients. When we're considering a change, especially a long-term or challenging one, I sometimes forget to ask about or revisit a "bigger why." It's nice to be reminded of how much that matters 🌿

Take care,

Camille



About Camille Freeman, DCN (she/her)

Hi there! I'm a clinical herbalist and nutritionist specializing in fertility and menstrual health. I run the Monday Mentoring community of practice and also offer continuing education programs for practicing herbalists and nutritionists (Check out this year's Deep Dive!). I'm also a former professor with the Maryland University of Integrative Health, where I taught physiology, pathophysiology, and mindful eating for 17 years. 

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