I call it the disconnect. Many people initially dislike it. After all, who wants to live without a cell signal or wifi. Oddly enough, it’s also a hidden benefit of camping that people miss once they go back to civilization.
Ever wonder why on earth someone would give up technology and modern comforts to go into the woods and live like a Neanderthal for a few days? It’s this, the disconnect.
Disconnecting from the always-on world around you takes a little getting used to at first. It’s one of those, “don’t knock it ’til you try it” things.
Paradox Between Saying and Doing
It happens so often anymore that it’s hard to avoid. I’m referring to the constant drum roll on social media. By heavy users of social media. Extolling the virtues of their need to disconnect from social media.
It’s awkward when you see it.
Do they realize the irony of announcing their need to disconnect on the very thing that they feel the need to stop using?
Many people say they want a break from the always-connected smartphones in our pockets. But there’s an interesting paradox between saying and doing a disconnect.
The gulf between the two is wide and more challenging to accomplish than you might believe.
Take it from someone who spends a considerable amount of my work life online. If you have an opportunity to find yourself camping in the middle of nowhere with no cell signal for miles, do it.
It is weirdly satisfying when that ‘smart’ device in your pocket that we allow to run our life becomes unimportant.
And your kids become interested in everything. And fun. Like they’re supposed to be when they get to be kids. Instead of smaller versions of adults controlled by those same small screens that we love to hate.
Camping is so much better than a stress ball. HammockCampers.com
The Hidden Benefit of Camping
At first glance, disconnecting on a camping trip might seem like a no-brainer. You hiked to the middle of nowhere. How do you expect to find a cell signal in a forest or on the side of a mountain?
Unfortunately, the disconnect is fast becoming an elusive side-benefit of camping. Areas that used to be cut off from mobile service are now ‘mostly’ inaccessible.
And by ‘mostly’ I mean it’s more difficult each year to find genuinely ‘cut off’ areas. Yes, even in the wilderness.
That’s why I call the disconnect, the hidden benefit of camping. It doesn’t even occur to most people that disconnecting from the rest of the world could be a good thing.
Liberating Experience
As problematic as this might sound to some people, it’s quite the liberating experience to disconnect completely. Even if only for a few days.
And once you get past the first day, you start to forget about your obsessive need for an always-on connection to the rest of the world.
What can it hurt to try disconnecting for a day or two? You might be pleasantly surprised when you see first hand just how little the rest of the world cares if they can reach you.
And if you are worried about people forgetting about you, then maybe disconnecting isn’t the biggest problem that you need to fix.
Keep It Special and Don’t Share It
Part of making the disconnect work is moving away from the obsessive need to record everything.
There’s no rule in life that says you need to share every experience with the rest of the world. So don’t.
Enjoy the moment. Keep your phone in your pocket.
Keep it special and don’t share it with anyone.
Some of my best experiences in life were moments that I shared with nobody. There’s no video. No pics. Just me and the moment.
Gasp! The horror! What kind of selfish monster are you?
All I’m saying is this. If you see something amazing, your first thought shouldn’t be, “Wow, I’ve got to get this onto Instagram.”
If that’s you, then you probably have some other issues to work out before disconnecting will benefit you.
Watching an amazing sunrise while hanging from a vertical rockface several hundred feet from the ground should not involve any thoughts of social media.
Neither should sitting on a beach by yourself to enjoy a beautiful sunset.
Those are your private moments. Enjoy them.
Disconnect or Don’t. Do What Works For You
My point to writing this was to talk about the benefits of disconnecting for a short while. Like a reset button to reboot your brain and put everything back into perspective.
I believe it’s a positive part of the camping experience, but it’s not for everyone. And it should never be a reason not to go camping. But you need to do what works for you.
To the casual observer, this might seem confusing. Most people believe it’s challenging to get a cell signal in the forest. So they point to that as their excuse to avoid camping.
They would be wrong.
It’s honestly not a valid excuse anymore. So many campground options are available today that it doesn’t take much to find a camping area with good cell coverage.
Take it from someone who actively pursues disconnecting as a primary benefit of camping. Every year it’s a little more difficult to find campsites that don’t have good cell coverage.
More Cell Towers
Trust me; I get how ridiculous it sounds for me to be complaining about too many cell towers providing great wireless coverage everywhere.
Oh darn, now my mobile phone works everywhere. What ever will I complain about now?
At the end of 2017, there were 323,448 mobile cell towers in the United States. And thousands more are added each year.
As companies build more and more cell towers, it becomes that much harder to get away from the wireless signals they transmit. Some people hate it; others love it.
So your camping experience can be location dependent as much as anything else. And as mentioned above, there are plenty of places to go camping that still allow you to stay connected to the rest of the world.
Disconnecting is Not Pressing a Power Button
You can tell yourself all you want that disconnecting is simple. That pressing a power button is easy. I’ll just shut off my phone and voila, disconnected.
It’s not that easy. I’ve been there. I know better.
I know what it’s like to disconnect for the first time. When you hide your phone from your friends and family and tell them you are off to find a good place to crap in the woods.
And an hour later they find you hiding behind a tree, searching for a cell signal, like some addict troll trying to get an electronic fix.
It’s no fun to be shamed by your children and have your phone taken away, especially as a Dad in your forties.
Keep telling yourself you’re stronger than I am and you don’t have a technology or mobile device addiction. I honestly hope you are right. And I mean that. But for the rest of us, disconnecting is not pressing a power button. It doesn’t work.
Two Sides to Every Story
Like any story, there are two sides to this one too. The business guy in me wants towers everywhere. A stronger signal means less downtime.
But the camper in me knows better. Downtime is a good thing. You need to slow down and disconnect to find balance.
And therein lies the rub. If disconnecting is the hidden benefit of camping, then stronger cell signals make it a challenge to accomplish that goal.
We live in a world that replaced human interaction with technology and put it in a pretty package, so everyone thinks it’s somehow better.
But somewhere along the line, we forgot how important it is to interact, in real life, with other people.
It’s interesting what happens when you take the time to get to know people. And the best place to do that nowadays is camping.
You would be surprised how many great friends you can make while sitting around a campfire or hiking up a mountain.
Mobile Device Addiction
Ordinarily rational people walking around holding phones in the air. Like they’re trying to catch a random signal just floating around.
Wide-eyed, panicky teenagers, instinctively checking their phones every minute to make sure it’s still on, just in case.
Mobile device addiction is like any other drug addiction. It modifies your behavior, so it makes you feel uncomfortable not to have it.
Just watch kids with their mobile devices and how their behavior changes when they use it. No matter what mood they’re in, an eerie calm comes over them once they stare at that screen.
And if you want to learn what it’s like to deal with a drug addict going through withdrawal, ground your kid from their mobile device for a week.
The mood swings and anger will prove exactly what I’m saying.
Regain Balance in Your Life
As a lifelong camper, I understand that life is about balance. I am, after all, writing about camping and the benefits of disconnecting from technology and social media to regain balance in your life.
One second that little dictator device in your pocket is doing its thing demanding your attention. Then it falls awkwardly silent.
It’s a little weird when the device that controls so much of your life has less value than the rock you’re standing on to get a better view.
Weird and liberating.
No texts. No calls. No notifications from your apps. It’s like the world suddenly stopped communicating. It didn’t, of course. You just got disconnected from it.
It’s truly a beautiful thing to watch as it plays out in real life.
Take back control over your life. An excellent place to start is by disconnecting.
Lance Gurganus is a writer with a love of all things camping, hiking, climbing, fishing, and basically everything outdoors. As long as it involves sleeping in a hammock at some point, he's game. Enjoying the outdoors is our goal, so we share ideas, tips, stories, gear reviews, and more.