Disconnect - find balance in your digital life

Disconnect is the name of the book I wrote with Thomas Moen back in 2014. It was published in Norwegian, original title “Logg av!” on Cappelen Damm Publishing early 2015 and later that year published in English. Link to book on Amazon The second Norwegian edition (buy here) came out in the summer of 2018, so the topic of disconnecting and having a balance in your digital life is still top-of-mind today.

“Daddy, do you love your phone more than you love me?” Frida, May 2013

The wake up call came from my 8 year old daughter. I realized I’ve gone to far. I’d let technology stand between me and what is truly most important in life. I started to make changes to my behavior. Most didn’t work. I cheated on my own promise to change. After months of trying different tactics I saw a blogpost from my friend Thomas Moen, about a challenge to disconnect fully for a day or two during Christmas. I thought “That’s it! I’ll go cold turkey!” but I decided to 10x Thomas with 20 days. I write this in the book.

The screen on the Car Park barrier arm flashes the words: “Welcome back!” That will be next year, I think, put the car in gear and pull out of the parking garage. The sharp winter sunlight blinds me as I turn onto the street. It is 20 December 2013. 16 days of vacation. Maria Mena is singing beautifully on the radio about coming home for Christmas. I am looking forward to it. Looking forward to Christmas. Looking forward to being home. I can smell the fire crackling in the fireplace in the morning. Freshly brewed coffee. The scent of a new book. Analog. The stram in front of me stops and I take out my phone. It registers that I pull it out of my pocket - and the screen lights up. I unlock it with a swipe code. I don’t touch the screen. I do something I never thought I would do. I turn it off. Not on mute. Not on flight mode. Completely off. The screen goes black. I put the phone back in my pocket. The tram starts to move. I turn off the radio. Complete silence. When was it last completely silent in the car? I look out across the Bay. Beautiful. When did I last notice it? A lovely sense of calm spreads through my body. I did it. I took the full step. I have disconnected.

This was my water-wagon, my cold turkey, no tech for 20 days. It was tough as hell.

That journey became a book, which I wrote with Thomas Moen, a fellow digital addict on the same journey to find balance in his digital life.
Below one video from our press-tour during the release from TV2 Nyhetskanalen. See more content on the press page.

When I lived in Asia I build a keynote on the backbone of the book. I’ve given it across 13 countries, 3 continents. It also became a part of Google’s APAC mental health summit in 2018.

The key-note is given in English and Norwegian. Use the contact form on this site or book through my agent Athenas