Learning to Live Offline Again
I want my life back
I grew up on 80s and 90s TV shows and films, and so this is what shaped my expectations of what adult life would be. As a teenager, I spent years in my bedroom watching films and TV, scrolling Tumblr, dreaming about the life I would one day live. I was so excited to grow up and experience it for myself. I made bucket lists. I wanted a full life - a real life. And I worked hard for it. I got my dream job, created little dramas for myself to navigate, and stepped into adulthood with intention.
And then slowly over time, I began being pulled out of my life and into my phone. I was back to my teenage habits - watching, observing, dreaming, waiting. What was I waiting for? I stopped “logging on” and “logging off”. I was now permanently connected - and I myself was never switched off.
Enough is enough. I want my life back.
The cost of convenience
Somewhere along the way, we traded living for convenience. I’m not a technophobe or a purist, but at what point do we pause and talk honestly about the trade-offs of what we call “progress”? Sometimes progress is actually regression.
When we struggle to read a full book, can’t check the time without checking Instagram, can’t sew on a button without watching a tutorial, or can’t light a fire without Wi-Fi, we have to ask: Is this really progress? Or have we slowly handed over our attention, skills and our confidence in exchange for ease?
We tell ourselves that carrying and hoarding endless information in our pockets makes us knowledgeable. But we don’t own any of it. The knowledge isn’t embodied, practiced or remembered; it’s outsourced. The moment the phone is gone and the internet isn’t accessible, we realise how little we can do without it.
This isn’t about rejecting technology entirely, but it’s about noticing how dependent we’ve become, and reclaiming our independence.
The moments we’ve lost
We no longer walk to the library and carefully choose books.
We don’t chat with strangers on the bus or train because we’re too busy and absorbed in our private digital worlds.
We don’t put on a CD and listen to it from start to finish as an activity in itself.
We don’t write recipes down and pass them on to friends and family.
We don’t fully immerse ourselves in anything - instead, we live shallowly in abundance. Skimming, scrolling and saving. In doing so, we’ve lost the small in-between moments that make up a life.
So, let’s go back!
I never imagined I’d one day miss my teenage student room, cluttered with CDs, DVDs, and a docking station - but yet recently, I do.
I want those moments back, and I don’t think I’m the only one. So I’m trying to reclaim them, one little change at a time. To do that, I’ve been looking back at the movies and TV shows I grew up with, at my childhood and teenage years. I never imagined I’d one day miss my teenage student room, cluttered with CDs, DVDs, and a docking station - but yet recently, I do. There was something there that we’ve lost and I want to relearn it.
I want to sit and read a magazine.
I want to hear the telephone ring and stand in the hallway talking to my friends.
I want to put on a CD, support the artists I love, and listen from start to finish.
I want to wake up to a clock instead of my phone.
I want to collect recipes and crafts I’d like to try, and keep them physically in my home. Limited space forces intention. Endless digital space encourages hoarding - and we’re not meant to hold the whole world.
Moving toward offline living
Sooo…what do we do?
I’m starting by gradually loosening my reliance on my phone for everything. I’m making a list of everything I use it for and, where I can, replacing it with something physical. Choosing analog over digital whenever possible.
I don’t want to buy or hoard things - my goal is to create peace and intention. Picking up a magazine on a topic I’m interested in. Finding my old CD player. Writing in a journal. Going to the library - reading books. Creating a recipe file that lives in my home, not on my screen.
This is how I’m starting. Not a big reset - just choosing one thing and doing it properly. Maybe you can start there too :)
