My Journey to Digital Detox
You know when you get that feeling that you should have got a message by now or constantly looking at your phone every few seconds because you may have missed that beep or flashing LED alert on your phone. When you are at that stage of your digital well-being, something clearly is not right. We have been hard-wired to react to beeps and small LED flashing lights. Something just clicks in our brains and we react. Almost like well-trained dogs.
I was at the stage of getting alerts from Instagram, Twitter, professional email, spam emails, advertising emails, YouTube, WhatsApp and the like every minute of the day. It was constant. Something just had to be done. I began by switching off all alerts from my phone. Clicking on the button to switch off alerts was almost like taking back control of my life. Minutes went by and I felt the need to constantly look at the Apps that I would normally be alerted by. Have I missed something? Has something happened? What if I miss out? The FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) was creeping in. It took some time and will power but after a while, I stopped looking at my phone less and less. I felt at ease. I did not suffer from FOMO. It was going to be OK.
That is one small step for me, one giant leap for my life. It was a small step but I was proud of it.
One-step at a time. More information to follow regarding my Digital Detox.
-ICT is not a single tool, but a whole toolbox – Use the right combination of tools to achieve the desired result-
Image: Marcus Kwan @ https://flickr.com/photos/149561324@N03/40105811555
Here’s what worked for me: buy a Nokia 8110 or some similar device midway between a feature phone and a smartphone, transfer your sim card over to it, and take that out with you to work, shopping, etc.. Leave your smart phone device at home and connect to your home wifi only. When traveling further afield, you can take both devices and create a hotspot using the Nokia as needed, using your smart phone as a kind of mini tablet. It really works! Cheers, Timo
It is a great idea. I have thought about getting rid of smartphone al together and just goign back to ringing someone if I really to connect or texting. I held back because it’s much easier through other apps and there are still benefits that make your life easier. It’s the data and privacy that really worries me now. Will be sharing more of my thoughts on here soon enough.