I locked my smartphone in a safe for a weekend and what I learnt surprised me

AT THE pub this weekend, when my boyfriend got up to go to the loo, I did what many of us instinctively do whenever faced with a momentary lapse in stimulation: I reached into my pocket for my phone. Except this time, for the first time in maybe 10 years, it wasn’t there.

- Emma Loffhagen

I had ventured out for the day with no Google Maps, no Spotify and no social media. So instead of scrolling on Instagram to fill the silence, I stared out of the window at the misty East Sussex countryside, eavesdropped on the couple’s conversation the next table over and allowed a slightly foreign but somewhat pleasant feeling to wash over me — boredom.

Before arriving at our digital detox retreat, I was unsure what effect going tech-free would have on me. Seventy- two hours in a remote cabin, completely off grid, both mine and my boyfriend’s phones locked away and out of reach. Unplugged, which runs the retreats across the UK, provides a Nokia in case of emergencies, a map of the local area, a radio-cassette player, a Polaroid camera and a Scrabble board.