Mumbai CEO Goes Offline for 16 Days, Returns to 3,000 Messages: Viral Digital Detox Story Reveals Biggest Lessons

Key Points

A MUMBAI-BASED CEO has caught the internet’s attention after he undertook 16 days of “digital detox” and completely disconnected from work and shared the surprising results it yielded. Jairam Sridharan, Managing Director and CEO of Piramal Finance, took to LinkedIn and shared that after his brief absence from work he came back to a mountain of official correspondence — including 3,000 unread messages, 2,000 emails, and hundreds of missed calls — but also discovered that “everything in the world has carried on just fine without me.”

“Returned to 'normal life' yesterday night, after a 16 day break. Per my usual custom, for these 16 days I did not access email, didn't pick up any calls, stayed away from WhatsApp, didn't engage in any social media chatter, didn't watch the news…Basically avoided anything that could remotely bring me back to 'work mode'. Dedicated the time fully to family and friends and our time together,” the CEO wrote.

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What Happened During the CEO's Digital Detox

After checking his phone and mail inbox after the digital break, wrote Sridharan, he was bombarded with numerous work-related WhatsApp messages, emails, and missed calls he had received, which included a few from his boss and the company’s partner. The CEO also noted that several other developments, such as the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar being “still at 95” and oil prices falling below $100, had also taken place.

“My absence made no difference. RBI made some big ticket policy announcements on the forex side. Rupee is still at 95 though. Oil, however, seems to have fallen below $100. I don't know why, but let's not look a gift house in the mouth, shall we?” he wrote.

Sridharan also wrote that a friend of his had gone through an “important and distressing life event,” the Royal Challengers Bengaluru have won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 trophy, and the road outside his house was dug up. 

However, the CEO said that the biggest takeaway from his experience of digital detox was much simpler. The 10th and final point of his notes on his digital detox was this: “Everything in the world has carried on just fine without me,” he wrote.

Social Media Applauds the CEO's Digital Detox Experiment 

Social media have taken especially well to Sridhar’s digital detox story, which have sparked conversations about work-life balance and the importance of disconnecting.

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One user commented how distancing from work responsibilities does have a cost, but the benefits are “intangible and irreplaceable.” 

“Yes, unplugging has a cost but it’s measurable and recoverable. The benefits, on the other hand, are intangible and irreplaceable. Maybe the real lesson is not just taking these breaks once in a while, but normalizing boundaries even in “regular mode,” the comment read.

One user by the name of Kirti Bardiya lauded Sridhar’s commitment to stay off-the-grid for 16 days, considering he is the Managing Director and CEO of his firm. She also highlighted the point 10 of his digital detox notes, calling it “humbling” and “liberating.”

“16 days off the grid takes real conviction at the MD/CEO level — respect! The best lesson here: the world doesn’t pause, but it also doesn’t need us as much as we think. Point 10 is the most humbling — and liberating!” the user wrote.

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