taking a digital detox

What Is It?

When someone says that they are taking a digital detox, they are referring to taking some time off from using technology and all electronic devices, including:

Television
Online videos
Social media
Phone
Video games

Assess Your Relationship With Technology

The best way to know if you should take a digital detox is by assessing your relationship with your electronic devices.

What is your daily screen time? How often do you check your phone? How long do you stay watching a series/movie on TV or other devices? Do you take your phone everywhere?

Do you wait for a notification to pop up? How long do you spend playing video games? What important things are you missing out on doing because of staying glued to a screen?

These questions can help you bring awareness to your behaviour.

It would be even more beneficial to track down the amount of time you spend in front of a screen everyday for a week to get an estimate.

Through observing my own “screen habits” I found that I was quite addicted to my smartphone.

I noticed my need to take it everywhere (including the toilet) and to put something on to watch or listen to while washing the dishes or eating a meal.

The dependency on my smartphone became quite overwhelming.

It stopped me from being as productive as I could have been hence slowing down the process of reaching my goals.

It was also my gateway to procrastination.

There were so many things that I could have been doing that would enhance my life, but I didn’t because of the control that my phone had over me.

I realised that Instagram was consuming most of my time which led me to doing an “Instagram fast”.

I decided that I will log out of Instagram for a week and delete the app.

It was really difficult at the start, I noticed that my finger would subconsciously tap the space where the Instagram icon would have been.

After a week passed, I didn’t miss Instagram at all! Doing this fast helped me set limits and never go back to using it the same way.

Instead of scrolling mindlessly I used the time to read books, make good habits, and become more active in real life by taking walks.

However, I’m still a work in progress.

Reasons You Should Take A Digital Detox

An immense amount of research evidently shows the negative impact that our digital life has on us.

Some of these negative effects are:

Poor sleep
Increase of stress
Poor mental & physical health
Messy work/life balance
Eye strain
Lower levels of concentration
Comparison

The biggest reasons for taking a digital detox is to be able to enjoy being present and take back control.

It’s also a great option to improve wellbeing as there are many mental and physical health factors that are being harmed due to the use of screens.

How To Take A Digital Detox

You may come to a realisation that the majority of your time is being consumed by looking at screens.

If you want to do a digital detox, you should let your friends and family know so that they can understand how to contact you.

Set a period of time that you can go without any electronic device, for instance a week.

Then plan activities that you can do to make use of your time for example going on walks, reading books, working on a project, socialising with friends or family, exercising, cooking meals, and finding a hobby.

By doing this detox there will be instances where you feel bored or miss your devices, and your first reaction would be to reach out for an electronic device.

This is why it’s important to plan alternatives so that you don’t cave in.

Assess how you feel after the set period of time is over.

Maybe your energy levels boosted, or you were very impressed with your work/life balance.

Maybe you haven’t felt any massive benefits, so you want to extend the period of time with no electronics.

Remember that this process will be difficult so be kind to yourself.

Realistically, it’s difficult to cut off all electronic devices because of their importance in our workplace or education.

But you can still restrict use and set boundaries.

1). You can choose to set aside all electronics after your school or workday has finished.

2). You might just want to do a specific app detox.

3). You could also pick two days of the week where you set your electronics aside.

4). You can also pick a week of every month/year that you will do a digital fast.

Tip: due to social media we tend to compare ourselves with other people, you can always unfollow or block anything and anyone that doesn’t make you feel good about your life or yourself.

The point of this is to ensure that you live your life according to ways that will benefit you.

Rather than letting devices control the trajectory of your life, use them to enhance your life instead.

After successfully setting boundaries and seeing benefits, you will not want to go back to using electronic devices the way you did before!

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