Did you know that March 4th, 2022 is the National Day of Unplugging? An awareness day that celebrates the restraint from technology for 24 hours! No phones, no TVs, and no other electric devices.
Inspired, and freshly motivated, we decided to reset our nighttime routine in 2022 by trying the digital detox challenge. For two weeks we tried to turn off our tablets and phones, avoid TVs and other electric devices 2 hours before bedtime. This way we gathered a deeper insights into how technology impacts our health, actions, stress and our mindset.
“If you’re spending your time scrolling through other people’s lives and wishing they were yours— you need a digital detox.” – Mel Robbins on Facebook, 2019
How to do the Digital Detox Challenge:
- Set an alarm that reminds you to turn off your devices.
(It should be your phone’s last peep for the next 2 hours! – or even better the whole night)
- Think about what you’ll do during your noise free time in advance. ( I didn’t know what to do with myself at first.)
- Find a place where you can store your devices – out of sight, out of mind.
- Make others join you (this way they can’t get grumpy at you for not texting back)
Our Digital Detox Experience:
Expectations:
When we started the no social-media and no-media – challenge we didn’t really have many expectations. I asked my sister what she expected would change in the upcoming days and she simply answered that she hoped her eyes would get a break and that her nightly headaches would stop. I on the other hand hoped to have more time for myself since most of my work is on my computer and this way I was not allowed to touch it.
The Negative Side of the Digital Detox Challenge:
Thoughts and Learnings: Julia
So when we started it was more difficult than expected. As a student, I can choose when to work and study during the day. You would think I can finish all my tasks by 7 pm (Due to our 5 am morning routine we had to go to bed at 9 pm). But, I didn’t consider that my most productive times are in the morning and at night – I am the worst couch potato in the afternoon and really don’t get anything done! So I was super stressed out when the “unplug-time” came closer and I had barely finished anything.
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Overuse of technology can:
- Constantly disrupt us. We are always waiting for the next *BING*
- Leave a bad impact on our mental health. (Eg.: we envy others for their social media life)
- Make us overworked and stressed out. There is no more work life balance.
- Make us feel disconnected and lonely (Alexis Artin)
To be honest, at the beginning I just moved a lot of tasks to the next day, because I simply couldn’t finish them on time. I felt bad for not achieving as much as before.
After the 4th day I completely restructured my daily routine and moved all tasks that required technology to the morning. This way I accomplished more and was less upset when not completing everything before unplugging.
Did I miss not reading the news or scanning social media apps? Hell yeah, but also no. I was fine skipping social media before bed, but I really struggled with missing out on Netflix, Music even simple things like podcasts or workout videos. It was really difficult at first to find something else to do. Everything was boring. I even went to bed at 8 pm once because I had no idea what to do with my free time.
Thoughts and Learnings: Carina
Once the digital detox challenge started I noticed how limited my time became. Work usually ends between 3 to 4 pm which roughly left me four hours to complete tasks that required technical devices. Detoxing and Unplugging two hours before bed gave me no time to take proper breaks between my job and working on personal projects. I was in the middle of working on my laptop, finally in the flow, .. *ding *ding *ding time to stop.
I became utterly unproductive.
Not to mention the difficulties I had in my long-distance relationship. Suddenly I had two hours less to communicate with my partner. Regardless of a long distance relationship your love might have a problem if you stop communicating at 7pm.
During the experiment, we realised that taking two hours of media detox each day is too difficult. We attended two webinars during the experience, and both went on during the unplugging time. The experiment also brought many benefits that will be explained in the next part, but it is to say that we cut down the unplugging time to one hour. It was much easier to adapt to one hour and we had additional 60 minutes to finish tasks or get a break in between.
Digital Detox Disadvantages:
- Might cause less productivity and more stress at the beginning
- Limits your work time (when you work on a computer)
- Impacts your relationships
- Might interfere with appointments such as webinars
- You might feel bored at the beginning
The Positive Side of the Digital Detox Challenge:
Thoughts and learnings: Julia
Media detoxing is great for self-care. I always wanted to spend more time on myself, doing self-care or learning a skill, but I never found the time. Without having any technical devices around I could finally grab my language folders and study Korean and Russian. I had time for activities that felt like “time-wasters”. Goal planning and even daydreaming were a part of my evenings. It is also a great time to think about your strengths and weaknesses or figure out where you want to go in life
(Check out this 12 week year method for better goal results).
I also tried to read a bit more during the detox, but neither the bible, an investment book nor a novel could hold my interest.
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Thoughts and learning: Carina
The Digital Detox Challenge broke my worst habit. Nightly phone games and Netflix, which I used to destress. Without them I actually went to bed on time.(Made getting up at 5 am loads easier!)
The detox time also gave my eyes the much needed computer and phone rest. I had fewer headaches and my back hurt less, since I reduced the time on the uncomfortable kitchen chair.
In general, there is less stress once you are unplugged. It’s like a clean cut. You finish as much as you can and once the alarm goes off you know you are free for the next two (one) hours. It’s a great way to slow down before bed and relax. And you can follow offline hobbies that you pushed off for a very long time, like drawing or reading. It is also a time gap where you can talk more with the people around you, by actually having eye contact and giving them your full attention.
Digital Detox Advantages:
- Avoid bad habits and have time to build better habits
- Spend time with yourself and your thoughts
- Time to learn a new skill
- Time for self-care
- Health benefits like avoiding headaches
- Less Stress and mental health improvements
- Time for offline hobbies
- Better in-person conversations
Other Digital Detox Benefits according to the Greater Good Magazine:
- Present Moment Awareness
- Improved Sleep
- Higher Productivity
Productive and Self Healing activities you can do during the digital detox experience:
- Drawing, DIYs and being creative
- Facemasks, eye masks or a bubble bath
- Learning a new language
- Cleaning and Decluttering
- Listening to music
- Dancing, Workouts or taking walks
Our Facit:
Carina:
I definitely think that 2 hours are too much when you want to get things done. But the digital detox challenge proved to be very beneficial to me and I will keep one hour of unplugging before my bedtime. I also must say that it is definitely necessary to allow smaller exceptions like looking up information or having webinars in between. I will keep reducing my media consumption.
Julia:
Even though the media detox was kind of a nice experience, I decided that I will not keep an unplugging time before bedtime. Working at night is my most productive time and I will get so much more done when I am not missing out on one or two hours. I will try to stop the device usage for one or two hours in the afternoon instead. This way I will not miss out on finishing my task as I struggle to be productive anyway and my eyes, as well as my brain, get a break.
I would recommend everyone to try a digital detox – it is a great way to boost your own life and mindset and it’s completely free.
To finish up the post I’d like to reference a part of the Tony Robbins podcast. In the podcast it is mentioned that the overuse or addiction of smartphones (which is also accurate for tablets and in some cases other electric devices) affects 4 different areas of our lives negatively:
- Social effects
- Financial effects
- Psychological effects
- Physical effects
Having a high usage of technology thereby deteriorates how we interact with others, it can put a financial strain on our wallets when we spend too much money on apps and games, make us feel restless, and lower our creativity. Spending too much time in front of our screens also causes physical problems. We move less and are overstraining our eyes – resulting in headaches, back pain, and more. (The Tony Robbins Podcast)
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