 I have an addiction and you are looking at it. Nobody really knows when exactly this sort of addiction starts. Heck, you may never even realize you have this addiction until not having your device literally makes you restless. Or that you're constantly getting called out for having your face buried in the phone so long that you're barely present in the real world. Although it's taken a very long time to admit it, there is enough real-time stats recorded by this same device I'm using to feed this addiction. And it reminds me every once in a while of the increase in screen time, especially now that there's so much reason to stay connected to the rest of the world in these extraordinary times. You know, stay informed, stay entertained, engage other people. The phone is important, right? And to be honest, I really didn't want to do anything about it until this weekend. So my wife and I were invited by a couple of friends on a work-based weekend trip and these friends of ours run an ecotourism company called Jolin Ico Ecotourists and they factor sustainability into almost all the activities with the travel and with their lodges and it's really cool how they do it. Due to the current situation in the world, they were very particular about how we traveled. So with the hand washing, hand sanitizer and face marks with the bus we use and everything, this I would say very much helped lower the skepticism I had about this whole trip in general. So I was pretty calm and I liked it. For example, we were eight in a 15-seater bus that included a driver as well and there was a lot of space between every passenger. I felt very comfortable and spacious and we're observing all the safety protocols that has to do with anything travel during these times. So if you must travel, remember that if the bus is crowded, please don't go and wash your hands, sanitize, do all the things that you need to do to keep safe, especially during these times. You don't want to get caught off guard. So these were some of the things that kept me really, really feeling comfortable and safe during the whole journey. It was a very comfortable journey I must admit. And I'd already been warned that there was no network connection so I was kind of curious how it would be like to be thrust immediately into a world where I'm completely disconnected from anything to do with the internet and almost rendering my phone completely useless, almost because well I can take pictures with it but there were no text messages, almost no phone calls, nothing. I mean you couldn't do anything with your phone. So I was curious to know how it would be like to be thrust into such a situation immediately. So after about five hours of driving through town after town, it almost felt like I hadn't traveled in years and elsewhere life was just still very normal. Like they were oblivious to what's happening in the world. We arrived at Tagbo Falls Lodge and man, it was beautiful. We were tired so we took our rest and that night it rained and the lights went out but it was cool enough not to be uncomfortable for sleep. I really don't do well in the heat so this was a good thing. We rested, we got ready for us to install for us the next day. Morning came, I scouted the place a little. We had breakfast, brainstormed for a bit and later in the day in the name of adventure seeking, we decided to hike to the beautiful Tagbo Waterfalls. As the rain from the previous nights didn't make it very comfortable and safe for us to try and conquer the famous Afajato. All this time there was no cell service and I was only able to make a quick call when we went on the morning walk and I had a little bit of connection on the road somewhere so I stood very still in order not to break the connection and made a quick call to tell my best friend that we had arrived and were okay and the morning walk lasted about an hour it was pretty tiring in my opinion but I enjoyed it nonetheless. And even though I was enjoying the scenery, all the greens, the plants, the different landscape, honestly I was itching to go back to the routine of checking my phone and scrolling through platform to platform and just you know being on my phone. And I was curious to know how many messages or notifications for example would be waiting for me. So we left on Sunday afternoon around midday and on our way at certain points stronger cell service had some messages trickle in and it made me start smiling because I was still waiting for how many so I wasn't actually immediately checking them and responding to them because after a few meters the cell service died again so I was waiting for the time when it was actually really stable. So when the cell service actually stabilized I started going through the messages I had I had about a little over 100 messages from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and some other games that I play so it was quite interesting to see exactly what was going on and I was curious of course. After going through the notifications I realized that very few of these actually concerned me and even that there were not really urgent concerns so there were things that could just be clicked and seen and forgotten not really important. So after 48 hours and 30% reduction on my average screen time for the week the world was still happening and I hadn't missed much and truth is prior to this weekend I try to win myself off screen time and find time for certain good habits like exercising but I keep falling out because honestly I prefer the bubble that my phone gives me as a form of distraction so I haven't been very disciplined with all the things that I want to do all the good habits that I want to pick up and it's been very difficult but I've been trying so if there's anything this trip has taught me is that it's actually possible to reduce the amount of screen time and direct all my energies or some of my energies into forming new and more beneficial habits and it was such an interesting discovery for me honestly. So in the next coming weeks I think I'm going to do more with staying off my screen and hopefully whatever I pick up in the course of forming new habits you definitely know that this is what this channel is about so I'm going to be sharing with you all the things that I am learning in my journey to better myself and I'm really really happy although I must be honest that even before this trip I wasn't sure I was gonna come out of it or this to be the actual lesson learned I thought I was going for a work related trip and I ended up discovering something that I need to do so stay tuned to this channel it's going to come your way at some points or the things I've learned until then I think that you should still try and stay safe as much as possible you should still live as if you're in quarantine honestly and protect yourself wash your hands use a face mask when it's necessary stay away from crowded spaces if you don't have to go out you really really shouldn't go out for the sake of it and if you haven't seen some of the other videos on this channel if this is your first time then please check out some of my videos and like this video if it spoke to you subscribe if you already haven't done that and it's been a really good time and traveling is something we have definitely missed hopefully when all this is over we can do more of it safely adios for now