Welcome to Week 2 of the Digital Detox Challenge!
Let’s dive into this weeks daily challenges…
Day 8 – Ditch The Devices When You Workout
Take a look around at the gym, chances are you can’t find one person without their phone in-hand.
Your cell phone can feel like your BFF when it comes to working out. From free fitness apps, to progress trackers, that little handheld devise might seem like the best workout companion. But as connected as you are with your phone, research is telling us that using your phone during while you exercise is sabotaging your workout.
When you really think about it, as useful as your phone can be, it can disrupt the entire flow of your workout, causing your focus to drift therefore impacting the level of intensity and physical effort you are bringing to your workouts.
This fact was backed by a study published by Computers in Human Behavior. It put 32 college age students to the test of performing a 30-minute treadmill workout —once while texting, the other while not. The test showed that the texting group exercised with less intense, and therefore preformed a less effective workout.
Today’s digital detox challenge is to ditch your devices and to use your dedicated workout time to focus in on YOURSELF.
Start treating your exercise time as an appointment for YOU, with YOU.
Making time for yourself and your body is important. Give yourself the respect you deserve by making turning off your buzzy apps and messages something you just do for YOU.
Download your workouts and turn your phone to airplane mode. Silence any and all notifications that could come through. This is your time, uninterrupted. Take it!!!
I also recommend having a playlist ready and downloaded beforehand, and invest in a set of wireless headphones.
Do you have other workout tips to share that you find helpful with staying focused during your workout? If so, let me know in the comments below.
*******************************************************************
Day 9 – Say “NO” To Notifications
Remember the famous experiment where the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavloc conditioned dogs to salivate whenever they heard a bell? He did this by ringing a bell every time he fed them,m so that (thanks to dopamine) the dogs began to associate the sound of the bell with the promise of food. Eventually any time they heard a bell.
This is exactly what happens to us when we enable push notifications – the alerts that show up on our home and lock screens countless times per day. Notifications use our brains natural ability to associate cues with rewards (and our anxiety over uncertainly) to get us to compulsively check our phones. Every time you hear or see a notification, you know that there’s something new and unpredictable waiting for you – two qualities that we are hardwired to crave.
As a result, not only are notifications nearly impossible to resist, bit over time they create a Pavlovian response: we descend into a state of anticipation / anxiety (and therefore distraction) any time we’re even near our phones. Indeed the mere presence of a smartphone on the table has been shown to have a negative impact on the closeness, connection, and the quality of conversation – not to mention worsen people’s performance of tasks that require focused attention.
In summary: Every ding and vibration from our phone triggers chemical reactions in our brains that pull us away from what we are doing – or the person we are with – and compel us to check our phones, usually for someone else’s benefit.
Today’s Digital Detox Challenge is to go into your phone’s notifications setting and turn off all notifications excerpt for phone calls.
You don’t have to keep these notifications turned off permanently, but it’s important to start by reducing them to a bare minimum. Why? Because then you know that whatever notifications you decide to turn back on are notifications that you actually want to get.
Let me know in the comments below how you feel about turning off your notifications, and if you feel it is something you can positively benefit from. I look forward to reading your comments.
Reference: How To Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price (A MUST READ!!!)
**************************************************************************
Day 10 – Unsubscribe to e-newsletters
How many times have you gone to check an important email only to get sucked into reading about a special promo or the latest weight loss hack?
Much like having your notifications turned on, having your inbox flooded with messages from multiple email lists that you have subscribed to is taking away from the time and energy you could be spending being more productive and present.
Today’s digital detox challenge is to spend 15 minutes unsubscribing from emails that no longer serve you. Promotions on things you don’t need to buy, newsletters you’re never going to read, etc.
Reducing the number of emails you get per day is another great way to reduce the time you spend on your phone.
Bonus Email Tips:
1) You may also want to take a look at whether your colleagues or direct reports are copying you on too many “for your information” emails. If so, my invitation for you today is to simply explain that you only need to be updated at certain times or when a final decision is made.
2) If you have hundreds of messages in your main folder, create a new folder called “Old Inbox” and put the messages in there. You still have access to them if need be but you will be able to handle incoming messages more easily without the clutter staring back at you.
3) Choose a handful of times during the day when you will review your inbox. If you do it every five minutes, you’ll end up spending your whole day on email. Schedule 3-4 times throughout your day to check your emails. Develop a system and stick to it.
Let me know how you feel after you’ve spent some time decluttering your inbox in the comments. Bonus if you share a screenshot of your less cluttered inbox!
************************************************************************
Day 11 – Put away your phone. Be present and listen.
Does it drive you nuts when you’re talking to someone and they check their phones mid-conversation?
A recent on-line survey found that nearly 9 out of 10 people say that at least once a week, their friends or family stop paying attention to them in favor of something happening on their digital devices. And 1 in 4 say these interruptions have caused a serious rift with a friend or family member.
It can be super frustrating when coworkers, partners, or even our own kids interrupt us to answer phone calls or text messages. And depending on the conversation or situation it can also leave us feeling dismissed and unimportant. But, on the flip side I’m willing to bet you’ve done it too! Right?
We are so connected to our phones and all that we have access to, but at the same time, we aren’t really connecting with the people around us.
Emerging research shows that even the simple presence of a cell phone — much less its glowing screen and constant beeps — interrupts our ability to connect.
Let’s stop waiting for others to change and let’s accelerate this necessary change ourselves.
Today’s challenge is to put your phone away when you are speaking or spending time with someone.
Maybe you grab a coffee with a friend and keep your phone in your purse , eat lunch with a coworker without checking your phone, or spend time connecting with your children without reaching for your phone.
Give yourself and others the gift of your focused attention.
Drop a picture in the comments of time spent ‘smartphone-free’ with a coworker, friend or family member today. Permission given to take out your phone ONLY to capture the moment…lol
**************************************************************************
Day 12 – Don’t use your phone in the bathtub
Taking a bath is supposed to be relaxing! Warm water, maybe some essential oils, sea salts, and even music or a book. But more of us are taking our phones into the bath.
Depending on which survey you ask, anywhere between 38-75% of women admit to having used their phone while in the bath tub. Amazingly, 19% even admit to having dropped their phone into the bath water.
Besides the obvious risk of dropping your phone in the water, when you use your phone while in a bath you’re sabotaging your relaxation time. A bath at the end of the day is a great way to spend time reflecting on our day and to allow your body and your mind time to slow down before crawling into bed.
Giving yourself time to properly slow down before bed, as we talked about on Day 1 of this digital detox challenge, promotes better sleep.
Looking at your phone while in a warm bubble bath sabotages many of the amazing benefits of your evening soak time.
While it’s great to be connected, it’s probably a safer and healthier idea to leave your phone outside of the bathroom, just to avoid temptation altogether.
So for today’s challenge I’m inviting your to leave your phone changing in kitchen and to enjoy a tech-free relaxing, well deserved bath.
BONUS: Here is a beautiful detox bath recipe to try!
I LOVE this combo and enjoy it at least once a week.
Add 1 cup of Epsom salt, 1-2 cups baking soda, and 10 drops of lavender oil to warm running water. Mix well by moving water around with your hand. Soak for 15 minutes up to an hour!
Once you’ve completed today’s challenge let me know in the comments below. Bonus points if you post a picture of your detox bath.
**************************************************************************
Day 13 – Make it a phone free date night!
Have you ever found yourself on a dinner date with your husband or partner and realized that you’re both on your phones waiting for food?
Today’s challenge is to make it a phone free date night. If you don’t have someone to go on a date with, that’s ok! Take yourself on a phone free date.
This can be a date night in, or you can find a sitter and head out.
Instead of checking your phones, ask each other interesting questions. These might include fun conversation starters, to something a bit more personal — and everything in between.
Below are a few of my favorite questions to ask at the dinner table. Don’t ask them all at once — that would be weird! Just pick one or two at a time.
And, if you’re by yourself, you can ponder these too!
“Did Anything Surprising Happen This Week?”
“What’s Your Biggest Dream For Us As A Couple?”
If You Were By Yourself And Could Do Anything You Wanted For One Day, What Would You Do?
What Advice Would You Give Your Younger Self?
What Do You Hope People Think When They Think Of You?
If You Could Hold On To Just One Memory For The Rest Of Your Life, What Would It Be?
What Are You Most Grateful For?
If you’re in the mood for something more lighthearted, play a game of Would You Rather!
I seriously LOVE this game and play it all the time with my kids to. They love it, it’s especially helpful on long car drives. You’re welcome Mama’s…lol
Here are some examples…
Would You Rather Be Lost In A Desert Or At Sea?
Would You Rather Be An Amazing Singer Or An Amazing Dancer?
Would Your Rather Make More Money Or Get More Vacation Time?
Would You Rather Take A Vacation To A City Or The Beach?
Would You Rather Camp Or Stay In A Hotel?
I can’t wait to hear how this went, let me know in the comments what your favorite question was!
**************************************************************************
Day 14 – No digital devices at the dinner table
Similar to yesterdays challenge, today I want you to keep your phone and all digital devises away from the dinner table (that includes TV too!).
Sundays are typically spent with family, but how much quality time are you getting in if you’re on your phone or the kids are on their iPads?
Years ago, dinnertime was sacred. You didn’t visit other families or friends during dinnertime, we ate dinner together as a family . The television was turned off, and the conversations although often unbearable, and boring, (especially for the teenagers…lol) dinnertime was a sacred, nightly family event.
I hear parents complain all the time that life has become so fast paced that they feel they don’t get to spend enough time with their children. Yet the fragile moments they do spend together, whether driving in the car or eating at a restaurant or at home are spent communicating with other people.
Maybe, just maybe – it would be worthwhile to go back to the ‘good old days’ and to enforce a rule in your home that says, cell phones/ipads etc. are not welcome at the dinner table.
While it may not be the 1950’s, maybe turning off the cell phones, tablets and the TV that serve no more than to disconnect us from the ones we love the most can be the first step in reasserting the importance of family and ensuring that our children don’t forget the importance of family time.
What do you think? Is tech taking over your dinner table?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I look forward to reading your comments.
Are you ready for Week 3 of our 30-Day Digital Detox? If so CLICK HERE.