This is the 61st #WILTW

… although it is a bit of cheat. Currently I am on holiday and this is a pre-programmed blog I wrote before I left.

I am having a so called ‘digital holiday‘. This is an interesting term which probably didn’t exist a decade ago. Its origins aren’t clear; a quick google revealing travel companies selling digital ‘detoxifications’ rather than a list of psychological references.

The question I am asking myself is why do I need an electronic spring clean? All things being equal there shouldn’t be a reason to switch off twitter, let my phone battery run dry or revert solely to paper-based reading mediums. But I have a strong feeling I need to do this. Whatever the extent of my dependancy is on being up-to-date in a social network sense (as opposed to an evidence-based medicine one) it is still a dependancy.

I do check my phone too much, I do care who retweets me and yes, I admit, I do watch the numbers of hits on this blog. None of these things make me a better doctor or father though.

Therefore for now: “cheers!” Hopefully I am on a beach or in a pool a but more clear on why a digital holiday is so important.

What have you learnt this week? #WILTW

(I did find this article on 5 steps on how to digitally cleanse on holiday though)