The Digital Detox Challenge, Summer 2016
Experiencing the Punkt. Digital Detox Challenge, Summer 2016
In July we ran the first Punkt. Digital Detox Challenge.. What was the challenge? To live without a smartphone for minimum of 48 hours. Punkt. selected 40 participants (journalists and members of the public) from a total of 700 applicants and issued them with an MP 01 handset to use for texting and calling once they put their smartphone away. The outcome? Some found it easier than others, and some people ended up quitting mid-way through. From Down Under to The Dolomites, digital detox experiences covered just about everything from family reunions to the realities of going digital cold turkey. Peoples favourite pastimes without internet? Photography, reading books, talking, staring into space and playing with children. But yes, most people got lost!
P.S. Receiving your postcards was the biggest treat ever. Thank you!
Read the participants' inspiring digital detox stories below:
It is liberating, no question
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...
Offline as the new luxury
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...
Contented when disconnected.
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...
Punkt. Challenge: easier than I thought. – Punkt.
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...
48 hours, sans smartphone.
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...
Digital Detox: pros and cons
I digitally-detoxed for a week while on vacation with my family. The MP 01 phone was just the right tool for cutting free from the torrent of distraction and frenetic trivialities of social...
48 hours without my smartphone: I survived
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 MP 01 Mobile Phone. The...
A Good Excuse To Switch-off
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 right tool for the right job
Prior to being selected to take part in the Punkt. MP 01 Digital Detox Challenge, giving up my smartphone and restoring some type of work/life balance was something I had been pondering for some...
Trading convenience for peace of mind
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...
360 hours without my iPhone. (And counting.)
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...
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...
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...
I love the MP 01, 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...
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)...
Life’s Too Short To Spend it Online
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...
What works for you?
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...
Escaping the Matrix
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...
Taking control of tech
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.
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...
Making More Room for Thought
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...
What satisfying, simple pleasures life has to offer!
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...
Comfortably disconnected
So – I was selected to undertake a 48hr “digital detox” by Punkt., with only the delectably slight MP 01 handset to keep me company. I’d admired the handset for a while;...
The Trials and Tribulations of A Digital Detox
For 48 hours I stowed my fancy phablet in a drawer and popped my SIM card into the Punkt. MP 01 for their Digital Detox challenge. Here’s what happened:
Hour one: No...