The Office Space April Digital Detox

In 2014 our lives are almost entirely tech-integrated: do you feel a shrill sense of anxiety when you realise you’ve left home without your iPhone? In turmoil without access to email? Out of touch without a regular scroll through your Facebook feed? As a symptom of our increasingly digital world – many of us are seeking out real world experiences and connections. Just last year Camp Grounded in California held a Digital Detox Retreat where guests were invited to unplug, enjoy some digital downtime and embrace the great outdoors in the studding redwoods of Anderson Valley. Hunger for inner calm and quiet, and the idea of mindfulness has seen leading global technology businesses employ certain Buddhist principles to create more positive outcomes for the business and the consumer. Towards the end of last year, Google invited Thich Nhat Hanh, an 87-year-old Vietnamese Monk known simply as ‘Thay’ and considered by many to be the father of mindfulness in the west, to Silicon Valley to lead a private day of mindfulness for CEOs of 15 of the world’s most powerful technology companies. Thay’s visit was themed ‘intention, innovation, insight’, and his focus was to discuss how the Google could use technology to be more compassionate and effective in bringing positive change to the world, rather than increasing people’s stress and isolation, both from each other and from nature.  “When they create electronic devices, they can reflect on whether that new product will take people away from themselves, their family and nature,” he said. “Instead they can create the kind of devices and software that can help them to go back to themselves, to take care of their feelings. By doing that, they will feel good because they’re doing something good for society.” Why not harbour some digital silence in your working week and join us in our April Digital Detox. Switch off entirely and give up your MacBook, mobiles, social media, clocks and work emails from 7pm – 7am each day in April. Image courtesy of Cabin Porn: www.cabinporn.com