13/05/02

It started with computers. Then mobile phones came along. Mobile phones in time evolved into smartphones. In the meantime, there were all kinds of handhelds and PDAs which kept morphing and gave shape to the modern day tablet. Oh, and the Internet freed itself from the cable somewhere along the way.

This is more or less how we evolved into “homo online sapiens.” It’s hard for us to imagine how it feels to disconnect. Entirely. Just for a week…

Check out: What Happens When You Really Disconnect

 

Listen

disconnect

Glossary

  • struggle – to exert strength, energy, and force; work or strive
  • tether – a rope, chain, or the like, by which an animal is fastened to afixed object so as to limit its range of movement
  • immerse – to plunge into or place under a liquid; dip; sink.
  • pile – heap
  • evaporate – to change from a liquid or solid state into vapor / to disappear; vanish; fade 
  • relentless – unyielding, determined, fixed, immovable

Think about it

Answer the questions below.

  • What was the writer busy with at the beginning of the year?
  • Was it easy for the author to entirely disconnect? What steps did he take to resist the temptation?
  • What does Daniel Goleman say about self-control and overloading attention.
  • What food does the author compare his diet of information with?  Why?
  • What two habits did the author start?

 

Practice makes perfect

In the sentences below replace the phrases in bold with the expressions from the original text

  • I woke up one morning about four weeks ago and realized suddenly that I cannot make any more progress.
  • My brain felt swamped and I needed time to clear it out.
  • But I knew that getting away from my office wouldn’t be enough if I remained tied to my online life and my work.
  • I had learned from past experiences how easy it is for me to give in [to temptation], given the opportunity.
  • What grew each day was my ability to focus more.

 

Fill in the blank spaces with the verbs in the brackets used in correct tenses.

I ______ (wake up) one morning about four weeks ago and realized in a flash that I______ (hit) a wall. Most days I can’t wait to get to work. On this day, I ______ (struggle) to get myself out of the house.

The first three months of the year ______ (be) intensely demanding, between hiring a series of new employees for a rapidly growing business, working with colleagues to develop several new products, traveling frequently, and taking on multiple writing assignments.

One of the primary principles of the work we teach at the Energy Project is that the greater the performance demand, the greater the need for recovery. I ______ (need) a vacation, but what I needed most of all ______ (be) a period of total digital disconnection. My brain felt overloaded and I needed time to clear it out.

 

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