Digital Detoxification for a Healthy Mind

Though the term ‘Digital Detoxification’ kind of summarises what it means, I’d like to explain the situation I am trying to address by giving an example of my daily phone habits till some time back.

I would wake up by the alarm that I put on my phone. Within 10 minutes of waking up, I would check my emails & social media feeds. I would pass my commute time to work by just mindlessly scrolling through my feeds. Even at work, when I used to get tired or bored of looking at my 3 big screens, the first thing I would do was pick up the 4th tiny screen, my phone. On most nights, I would check my phone before going to sleep.

While I considered all these as small 5 minute breaks during the day, I was stunned when I started tracking my online activity lately. The app showed that throughout the entire day, I was spending on an average 1 hour or more on social media.

I wouldn’t deny that social media is interesting, addictive and sometimes informative too. Neither am I saying that spending time on these platforms is wrong. What I am questioning here are the times when we aren’t even aware that our mind has got automatically programmed to just check our phones when it feels idol, or when it is tired and needs a break. Have you felt that yourself? 

Digital Detoxification – We need it and we need it now!

There is so much noise out there that our brain is consuming unknowingly, that it is on the verge of being unhealthy for the mind. Anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, etc caused by social media are all issues that have already started coming in limelight.

While we cannot completely ignore this aspect of our lives, we can certainly be mindful of its impact on our lifestyle and make conscious choices to frequently detox our minds from this digital junk.

If my thoughts above resonate with you, here are small efforts that I consciously make towards my digital detoxification which might be helpful to you as well. Feel free to share your own unique ways in the comments. 

1. What does your timer say?

The first thing to know is how much time you are currently spending online. There are multiple apps out there that can help you with that. I just used Instagram’s own timer and set a notification to alert me when I spend more than 20 mins.

2. Maintain a long distance relationship with your phone

When at home, I have started keeping my phone at a distance away from myself and during commutes, I keep it in my bag. When I am going out for a stroll in the park or for veggie shopping to local farmer’s market, I leave my phone at home whenever possible.

3. Practising art for rescue

Artistic activities are engaging, keep you off the phone and are really healthy for your mind. Even doodling and colouring relaxes your mind and calms you down. If you want to give it a try, you can download a free colouring ebook and spend some time colouring it.

4. Set a schedule 

In order to develop a habit, set yourself specific times of the day when you would access your apps and try to stick to it. It could be evenings, just before going to bed or any other time you feel comfortable with, just stick to it instead of being exposed to it throughout the day.

5. No wi-fi Sundays

This one is difficult and something I haven’t been 100% successful at, yet. Try having a no wi-fi Sunday. This really gives you a break and frees up some clutter in your head before starting the new week afresh. 

6. No sleeping with phone on your side

Try not to use your phone for alarm. This helps in avoiding that lazy urge of checking the phone while still in bed. It is neither good for the eyes to look at the screen first thing in the morning, nor for the rested mind to be exposed to all the digital junk.

7. Cheap tricks go a long way

If you love listening to music, try using Youtube app. The free version of youtube app stops playing the songs when you check anything else on the phone. It is annoying but can keep you away from some mindless feed scrolling on your phone.

It’s all up to us individually how we want to tackle this digital distraction, or if this is even a problem for us. However, with times to come its going to get more serious. Be mindful and follow digital detoxification and you should be good to manage it all!

Like me, if you want to practice some digital detoxification with art, download the free colouring sheets. You may start simple by colouring the sheets with some pencil colours just to begin with.

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