TIME FOR A DIGITAL DETOX?
How to know if a digital detox is right for you?
Most days before I’ve even rolled out of bed my arm reaches for my phone to check the time but also look for notifications and see what’s happening on social media, in particular Instagram. The source of excitement can then quickly turn into anxiety, FOMO and stealing my joy with comparison envy, before I’ve even got out of bed!
You’ll know in your bones if an electronics fast or digital detox is needed. Likely even more so if the thought of it terrifies you!
Step 1: What do you want to detox from?
The first important step in knowing your WHY? Then you can easily go about structuring your detox from the key platforms you actually need a break from so that when you come back, you’re in a healthy relationship with it. Most of us have a very off balance relationship with Netflix, TV, gaming consoles, news watching and of course social media.
For me, I noticed I was getting into a horrible habit of whenever I had a free second I would check one of my various social media channels, and it was filling up all my free space. Space that should have been used for creativity, or for brainstorming, or for other useful productive tasks.
So, the first thing I want you to think of is what fills up your time like this? What are you hooked to that could be time better spent being productive?
2. Do you glamourise busy-ness?
If you’re like me and use social media for your business, it’s so easy to fool yourself into being/staying busy online for the growth of your business.
If you examine it properly, it does seem silly how proud we are of being busy. "I'm so busy!" responses are often just our attempts to avoid making hard choices about how we live our lives. Always being the busy bee is much easier than taking time to discover what would really make us happy. God knows how the World Wide Web makes it so easy to be "busy" indefinitely. So be careful not to glamourise busyness. By doing so, you can start to think more clearly about how you are choosing to spend your time and not distracting with mind numbing blue screens.
Step 3: Fill the Void
Most notifications, urgent alerts and perceived emergencies online are actually imagined. They are just bad habits and practices of distractions, which we need to unlearn.
Replace your habit in advance! For most people their biggest problem with detoxing is going cold turkey; cutting something out with nothing to replace it with is definitely not wise. This gives you a productive alternative to the behavior you are trying to curb, and makes the detox so much more manageable.
Surprisingly the most exciting part was seeking something to replace my social media fixes with. I decided to fill those empty space with connection time; proper old school phone calls to friends to catch up or brain-storming creative time, naps and perfected the art of doing nothing! Remember it’s in the void, the unknown where actual creation arises from. So embrace the void, it’s impermanent and will be filled organically if you allow it.
Step 4: Accountability; Make an announcement
It’s bloody hard to do a detox, especially if you properly engage with actual friends through social media, they are going to wonder where you went. You don’t want to offend them or leave them hanging, so I recommend you make an announcement. Make clear how long you are going to detox, off which platforms, your reasons and what your goal is.
Not only does this keep everyone in the loop, it can actually help hold you accountable. If everyone knows you’re doing it, you wouldn’t want to let them down as well as yourself.
CONCLUSION A digital detox is not easy and really will depend on your circumstances and the type of behaviour you want to change or improve. So consider the above steps, and decide the course of action that is best to kick your crack habit, whether it is a reliance on a screen, netflix or something else entirely. Remember, a detox is not just about cutting out a habit. It’s about filling the space with something new. When I did my detox, I was very happy with what filled that space. I had new, creative ideas, I was inspired constantly, and was way more connected with those that truly mattered.
But remember it’s your detox. Social media and email were the things that I needed to detox from. Really allowing review time to see what you use to fill empty spaces, then think about what you’d rather fill it with. Commit to it and go all in. If you are like me, you will find that the detox rewards you with increased mindfulness, better relationships with those around you, and inspiration that you didn’t know you had.
Having tried this technique myself last year for 2 weeks, I can't overstate how positive the effects are. Although it feels a little scary at first, a detox almost always forces you to tangibly connect with others and with yourself, which turns out to be a pretty amazing experience.
Enjoy and let me know how you go!