After realizing how ridiculous that reaction was and turning off the phone to conserve battery life (no one else had a charger that would work), I looked forward to this opportunity. I was in Indiana to celebrate the wedding of a dear friend and help her out, not share the minutiae of my existence with those who follow me on the global conversation known as Twitter.

I joked that I was suburban camping, and only went through withdrawals for a few hours. While I was busy helping with preparations, I soon noticed I wasn’t as jumpy or tense as I normally am. I didn’t feel the compulsion to read 800 newspapers or blogs a day to keep up with every breaking news story. I could focus on a task longer than 10 minutes. I was relaxed.

Now, I was hardly cut off. I checked email once a day, and sent out a couple of tweets on Saturday, but it was far from my usual time spent online. Honestly, I didn’t miss it.

Given my job and geographic location, I can’t maintain this level of disconnect, but I appreciated it. Outside of urban areas, I noticed that people don’t obsessively check their phones and BlackBerries for messages. Actually, not that many people had smart phones. At the rehearsal dinner, no one pulled out their phones for hours at a time. It was so noticeable that I commented on it, and a fellow guest, who lives in the New York area, agreed. People were focused on the conversation going on physically around them rather than activities back at the office or chatting with other friends.

Checking your phone constantly or texting while out with other people is a pet peeve of mine. I’m guilty of doing it, but it is rude to focus on some web device when out with friends for dinner or happy hour. It’s even worse if you’re on a date!

While situations arise when you do need to check your phone for something important, we blur the lines far too often. Following the latest trending topic on Twitter does not count as an emergency. If you are physically at an event with others, you should mentally be present as well.

Of course my period of disconnection didn’t stick. As soon as I got to the airport, I took advantage of free wifi. When I got home, I immediately spent a few hours catching up on the interwebs and penning this post.

I’m hardly turning into Wendell Berry, but I do think that humans need to disconnect regularly. Perhaps it’s just the news-obsessed culture of the DC area, but everyone around me would benefit from a tech break. Humans were not created to constantly absorb news and regurgitate information. Just because we can share information immediately, doesn’t mean we need to comply. The expectation to react 24/7 is not healthy, and it made the political world much worse.

I still love technology, partially because it pays the bills, but I do wish that it was easier to step away from it all.