Welcome to week 4 of the Digital Detox Challenge!
Let’s dive into this weeks daily challenges….
Day 22 – Don’t Scroll Through Your Phone for the First 30 Minutes of Your Day
On Day 4 of this Digital Detox Challenge I invited you to create and enjoy a 15-minute morning routine that nourishes you, BEFORE you pick up your phone.
Did you do it?
Giving yourself time in the morning to check in and see what you need and want from the day is a powerful way to OWN YOUR DAY, instead of the day owning you!
It’s proven that by sticking to a morning routine, you’ll have more energy, be more efficient and help reduce stress levels. The key to doing this consistently is to find a routine that inspires you and that incorporates things that you enjoy.
Here are a few morning routine idea’s to try…
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- enjoy a mug of warm lemon water
- pull tarot cards
- meditation
- journal
- exercise
- goal setting
- practice gratitude
- set out your intentions for the day
- listen to music that inspires you
Do you already have a morning routine? If so let me know in the comments…bonus points for sharing a picture!
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Day 23 – Stop checking your phone while in line
Have you ever looked at people waiting in line? They’re all checking their phones.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, but it’s definitely not an intentional use of your phone.
For today’s challenge I’m inviting you to keep your phone in your pocket or purse while in line. And instead strike-up a conversation with the person behind you, pick-up a magazine and read, or practice the 4-7-8 breathing technique that I shared on Day 3 of the challenge.
Need a refresher? Here’s how to preform it…
Exhale completely through your mouth. Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven. Exhale completely through your mouth for a count of eight. This is one breath. Repeat 3-5 times.
Let me know in the comments below if you found today’s detox challenge helpful. I always LOVE hearing from you xo
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Day 24 – Break the “checking” cycle
Once you’ve checked your email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on, it’s tempting to start the loop all over again. Instead check just one app at a time. Train yourself to put your phone down after your intended action.
It’s pretty hard to break the “what’s next” habit, so do anything you can to make switching apps less automatic. Close apps as soon as you use them, so you’d have to boot them up again. And hide all your distracting apps off of the home screen, putting them in folders so you have to dig for them or type their names to open.
Be sure to let me know in the comments below how you found today’s challenge.
Reference: How To Break Up With Your Phone by Catherine Price (A MUST READ!!!)
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Day 25 – Establish No-Phone Zones
As the name suggests, a “No-Phone Zone” is a place where you do not use your phone.
Full Stop. No-Phone Zones are great because they remove the need for decision-making in the moment. They can also help reduce conflict: if everyone knows that phone aren’t allowed at the dinner table, then you don’t need to have a new argument about it each night.
Take a moment to establish several No-Phone Zones for yourself and, if applicable, your family. I suggest starting with the dinner table and bedroom: banning phones from the dinner table brings people together, and banning phones from the bedroom improves sleep.
Pick your No-Phone Zones tonight and let me know in the comments what areas you picked.
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Day 26 – Stop Phubbing
Phubbing is short for phone snubbing. Having your phone on the table during a meal? That’s phubbing.
Checking your phone in the middle of a conversation? Phubbing.
Texting while you’re at a party? Phubbing.
These types of behaviors have become so common that we often don’t even notice that we’re engaging in them. But we are.
You’re likely already begun to reduce your phubbing, thanks to all the work you’ve put in over the past 25 days . But let’s make it official: starting TODAY…No Phubbing until the end of the challenge.
Come back on Day 30 8 and let me know in the comments how you did.
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Day 27 – Practice Pausing
Today’s challenge is about practicing something simultaneously simple and hard: BEING STILL.
We tend to think of stillness as being synonymous with boredom, and it’s true that we often use both words to describe the same state of mind. But while the word boredom carries with it an element of feeling trapped, stillness offers an opportunity for peace.
As Pema Chodron writes in her book, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, “If we immediately entertain ourselves by talking, by acting, by doing – if there’s never any pause – we will never be able to relax. We will always be speeding through our lives.”
So today let’s experiment with deliberately making time to be still.
First identify several situations in which you regulatory find yourself reaching for your phone to kill a little bit of time (by “little bit” I mean anywhere from 10 seconds to ten minutes).
For example taking the elevator, waiting in a line-up, using the bathroom or having lunch.
Next, choose two to three of those situations that you will encounter today and commit to being still.
There are many ways to be still…
- stare at the ceiling
- notice the people around you
- taste what you’re eating
- look out a window at the sky
It doesn’t really matter what you do, as long as you don’t reach for your phone or other digital device.
At first you’re likely to feel physically and emotionally twitchy, as if your brain is banging on a door that usually opens and panicking when it realizes it is locked. But after a few minutes – or even seconds – your brain will tire itself out. It will stop pounding at the door and start noticing the room that it’s already in. And who knows? It might decide that it likes it there.
What will you do when you find yourself with a few minutes of downtime today?
Be sure to let me know in the comments how you found today’s challenge. I always love hearing from you xo
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Day 28 – Break-up with your phone for 24-hours
Yep, that’s right today’s challenge is to schedule another 24-hour separation from your phone.
I also recommend not using any internet-enabled devices with screens, including tablets, smartwatches, laptops and desk top computers.
As mentioned on Day 16 of this challenge, this Summer I committed to go LOW TECH at least one day per week and NO TECH once a month.
Below are the steps that you can take to prepare yourself for an easy and VERY rewarding NO TECH day.
YOU can 100% do this!! Here’s how…
Step 1: Tell People What You’re Doing
Inform your parents, friends, co workers and anyone else who’s likely to try to contact you for the next 24-hours.
Step Two: Get Others on Broad
Ideally, everyone in your household should participate in the 24-hour break. It can also be fun to recruit a friend or two to do it with you.
Step Three: Make Plans
Schedule enjoyable things you can do and people you can spend time with.
Step Four: Use Hard-Copy Instructions
If you’re going to be driving someplace new, print instructions or write down directions ahead of time.
Step Five: Set An Automated Phone Greeting
If you feel it’s necessary, change your outgoing voicemail to explain what you are doing.
Step 6: Create a Physical Contact List
If you have a landline, write down the numbers of people you think that you might want to call.
Step 7: Use Call Forwarding
Speaking of landlines: it’s possible to have all calls from your smartphone forwarded to your landline. Instructions for how to do this may vary by carrier, so call your service provider and inquire before hand.
Step 8: Set An Out-Of-Office Response
If you’re stressed about not responding to emails, set up an email auto-responder that explains what you are doing.
Step 9: Set An Automated Text Message Response
If you’re worried about missing texts, set up a text message auto-responder. This means that any time someone texts you, they will receive an automatic response that says you’re not checking your texts (and optional, that tells them a different way to get in touch with you). I am a bit obsessed with text message auto-responder. It makes it MUCH easier for me to take breaks from my phone. And every time I use it, I get messages from people asking how they can set it up on their phone…lol
That’s it….now you’re all set-up! And when the day comes simply turn off your phone – and whatever other devices you’ve decided to take a break from – and hide them someplace out of sight.
I can’t wait to hear all about your success.
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Day 29 – Have Healthy Phone Habits
A lot of the changes you’ve made over the past 28 days (for example, keeping your phone out of the bedroom) have the potential to become habits – but since they’re not yet automatic these changes are still pretty fragile.
In order to become true habits, these new behaviors need to become so second nature that you do them without thought. The best way to accomplish this is to make decisions ahead of time about how you want to act in particular situations, so that when you encounter those situations, you follow the new, healthy habits without having to think.
For example:
– Where do you charge your phone?
– At what time do you put it away for the night?
– When do you check it for the first time in the morning?
– Where do you keep your phone at work?
– Where do you keep your phone while your are at home?
– Where do you keep your phone at meal times?
– What are the situations in which you have decided that you don’t use your phone? In the elevator, waiting in line or when your bored or feeling socially awkward?
Let me know in the comments what new habits you will be creating to develop a healthy relationship with your phone and other digital devices.
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Day 30 – Congratulations!
You made it. You’ve given yourself an amazing gift by participating in this digital detox challenge.
My intentions for this challenge was not to tell you that you have to break-up with technology for ever, because that’s an all-or-nothing scenario — and I don’t believe that’s how we ultimately create positive, lasting change.
My effort to be more intentional with my digital devices hasn’t been perfect, but it has helped me start to make lasting changes in my habits.
Like all things, it’s a work in progress and that’s OK. The point is to head in the right direction and learn along the way — and that’s exactly what I hope it has helped you to do as well.
We have less time in life than we realize – but we also have more than we think. Reclaim the hours you spend on your screens, and you’ll find that you do have time for that fitness class, you do have time to enjoy a coffee date with a friend or to start playing guitar again. The key is to keep asking yourself the same question, again and again and again: this is your life – what do you want to pay attention to?
Thank you so much for following along and participating in the daily detox challenges.
Please take a moment to let me know in the comments what some of your biggest take ways where from this challenge. I always love hearing from you.
