Ask The Readers: Can You Disconnect And Still Be Productive?

Absolutely! I find that to get anything written I need to unplug. I'm a grad student, and I find that when I sit down to write, there is always one more citation I need to check out before I can write. Unplugging allows me to get my thoughts on paper (or into Onenote at least!) and I can check out the citation afterwards.
A friend of mine recommends starting the day unplugged, even if just for an hour, and getting stuck into an important task right away. The task gets done mainly because you focus on it before the barrage of communications via email rss twitter etc.
Unplugging definitely helps – but I start to get anxious if I'm unplugged for more than a couple of hours!

There are 2 problems with being plugged in all the time – you physically spend a lot of time checking and re-checking, and you are are always keeping part of your attention focused on your inbox, twitter client and cellphone.

Unplugging is a very useful way of getting away from those distractions and re-energising as well as getting a good chunk of work done. Perhaps that is what drives the energising? being productive is a great morale boost.

Personally I like to unplug for a couple of afternoons a week. Often I'll take my laptop along to a cafe and get my head down to working, and I find I have to unplug to get my weekly review done.

Amazing that the internet goes on when we're not there. And so do our lives when we're not online. Maybe someday that won't be the case, but for now it's not so damaging to spend time away…just the opposite seems to be the case.

And with that, I'm going to shut down–it's 6:00. (let's see how long I last…)

Oh, dramatically productive.

I've learned to force myself to download everything I think I'll need and unplug (well, turn off the wireless). I get WAY more done in these bursts of dedicated time.

I started on this habit because I travel frequently between cities on the bus – no Internet. So I set up Mail.app to download all my mail and then I'd sit on the bus and crank through tonnes of emails, setting them all to send when I next connected. I'd have a few videos on tap and I use Instapaper to cache articles I've been meaning to read and voila! Bus trips that were often more productive than being at the office.

So having learned my lesson, I now make a point of doing this at home as well. I'll take some time to prepare my computer and then go to a coffee shop WITHOUT wireless and crank through tasks.

Hello Geri, James, Jared and Tim,

Thanks for the great responses. Sounds like its a concept worth more experimentation. I like the idea of taking afternoons offline a couple times a week. Maybe I'll toy with that some more. I'll report back the results!

Thanks again! And I hope the conversation keeps going. I'm really enjoying the feedback!

Absolutely a good habit to have. One of my favorite tricks at work is to book myself a conference room where I'm away from my phone and turn off my wireless. Either that or if it's a nice day I'll go sit on the deck and work while listening to some tunes. Even though I've gotten pretty good at minimizing the electronic distractions by now, sometimes the best way to keep yourself from doing something is to just make it impossible (or at least severely inconvenient) to do it.

@Tim: I recently did the same thing on a flight back from a conference. That was far and away the fastest I've ever plowed through 300+ e-mails… and I didn't dread going back to work the next day so much!

[...] This notion that the interweb is becoming a big fat time suck is quickly becoming popular…Coming back from a (mostly) online-free 4 days made me realize how much time is wasted every day checking and rechecking stuff for no good reason. It made me wonder if it was possible, or productive, to have more days where I greatly reduce my usage of the Internet… Or maybe even cut it out entirely! (via cranking widgets) [...]

Absolutely not! My internet has been cutting in and out these past few days and it has caused me much distress. More then I even realized I depended on the internet. I thought that I didn't rely on the internet as much as I do. I really need to find a way to cut down on my reliance.

Writting is a skillful and continuous process, it becomes really difficult to start writting if you dont do it for a longtime and also the pace and the quality isn’t the same at all.

For me its quite difficult, i need much time to catch up and be as productive as before. And after disconecting i feel really distressed and lost.

Disconnecting is absolutely vital to work. I schedule one no-internet-no-computer day ever two weeks. It's sometimes surprising how much I get done on those day and how different the 'real' world can look.

Amazing that the internet goes on when we're not there. And so do our lives when we're not online. Maybe someday that won't be the case, but for now it's not so damaging to spend time away…just the opposite seems to be the case.

its very interesting thing that one can be productive even after getting disconnected…..

Thanks for sharing this information with us. I try this share my views with you with you soon…….

Getting unplugged ; i think it's a great experimentation option to try out

if you read zenhabits you will find a lot of productivity by just doing nothing, or doing something more slowly

I have tried this and I think that the unplugging for some time is very salutary.It maybe as well to doing something else which is not connected with internet. Lets everyone to try this.It is more healthy.

I think that I can't be productive without internet.I have to try to disconnect about a day to understand if it is that.Thanks for the great idea.

Unplugging is a great relief for people who are glued to the computers. You have time to finish a lot of pending work and of course everybody needs to relax for a day or two and enjoy. Unplugging is definitely essential.

Of course unplugging is good. You need a break! you miss so much in life if you are glued to the computer 24 hours a day. Although a long break might mess up your work, a short break for a day or two is very much necessary.

Of course you can disconnect and be productive. 1-2 days will do you no harm. You need to relax sometimes….not just keep working… working….. working.

The other day I turned my computer off and went outside. It was amazing. There are birds and stuff out there, and this big yellow thing in the sky that makes me feel happy.

Yes, we must learn to turn off. But what we need is a way for our online activities to be more productive and less repetitive.

Best article! Thanks!

Hmmm, intriguing. Now that I think about it, I probably never go more than two or three hours “offline” during my waking days. I do an incredible amount of things online.
Pulling the plug seems really daunting, but I think I should give it a try. Thanks for this post!

that' sounding great for twitter indeed it has revolutinize whole internet users in the internet shpere for its services that is sounding great for every one.
i have two my account of it