The Power of Airplane Mode

Overview:

• Why Airplane Mode
• Why Disconnect?
• Why and How I use Airplane Mode

Airplane mode, a feature that every phone has but yet so few of us use. Which makes sense because if you’re not flying, and who really is flying during this pandemic, this feature is essentially useless.

However this feature can have a lot of power, as there is a lot of power in disconnecting. In 2021, the world is connected more than ever, and the pandemic has shifted our dependency on technology tenfold. With everyone shifting to work from home, or like me school from home, we are now using our devices to do almost everything, even hanging out with friends. Thus the amount of messaging and replying that we have to do on a daily basis can get pretty overwhelming. And because we are all home, many of our peers assume that we have nothing to do and feel like they can message us (or bother us) at anytime of the day. This can get really annoying as this constant messaging can really distract us from getting stuff done or working on projects. And if your like an introvert like me, can be extremely draining.

This is where airplane mode comes in, essentially a stronger Do not disturb, as this disables any cellular features of the phone, meaning no notifications, no texts, no calls, and no distractions.

There are two major times I use this feature:

• 1. When I am sleeping. When I go to bed I put my phone on airplane mode, so I don’t get woken up to stupid spam calls, and most likely no one will be calling you in the middle of the night for something important anyways (hopefully). If you are worried about calls you can turn on Do not disturb and only allow only calls from favorites to go through so you won’t miss calls from someone important to you. But I mainly do this, so when I wake up I see no notifications. This prevents me from being overwhelmed by messages and notifications when I wake up and allows me to wake up at my own pace. When I am ready to connect with the world again, I turn off airplane mode and mentally prepare myself for the notifications to come in.

• 2. When I really need to focus on a given task. I have this bad habit that I constantly pick up my phone even when I don’t have any new notifications, I just mindlessly open an app, scroll through, close it, and get back to my task without even realizing. This eventually leads to me chucking my phone across my room. However with my phone in airplane mode, when I do reach for my phone, I quickly put it away, realizing that I can’t do anything with it. Also with airplane mode I can still use my phone as a timer, without getting distracted by notifications, calls, or my annoying habit.