On August 1st I started a digital detox.
What that means is I’m limiting or eliminating certain forms of electronic communication from my daily life.
This includes things like news, podcasts, and social media.
Practically, what this looks like is
No social media other than for business marketing
No news during the week with only one hour on the weekend
No games or other things on the phone that require staring at the phone for long periods of time
Basically, put the phone away, except for weather and exercise apps
Yes to audiobooks, if non-political
Yes to listening to meditations or spiritual teachings from the “Waking Up” app
Most importantly, no Reddit
That last one is going to be the most difficult for me as it’s my go-to when I want to take a break from work. It’s one of the places I go online when I take a break to recharge and “rest” without even thinking about it.
The problem is this type of activity is not real rest. When I scroll during a break, I’m still stimulating my brain and that stimulation can be even more draining than what occurs during work even though it is of a different nature.
So all that needs to be eliminated.
Giving It Up
What will happen when I give up these distractions?
What I know is I’ll find different, and hopefully better, ways to rest, relax, and recharge when I take a break from work.
What are my alternatives?
Meditation
Reading or listening to an article, book, or spiritual talk
Taking a walk outside
Connecting with a friend
Writing something in my personal journal
Draw something for fun
Take a nap - a real nap - for real rest
The list goes on…and from this list, meditating and napping are the best ways to truly rest. The other things here are things that still stimulate the mind or use energy, although in different and beneficial ways.
It reminds me of a scene from the original Star Trek: Spock is confused about how humans tend to “rest” and says,
“On my planet, "to rest" is to rest, to cease using energy. To me, it is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass using energy instead of saving it.”
He has a point there, though I do want to emphasize the tremendous benefits of exercise to overall health.
Why Now?
You might wonder why it’s important for me to do a digital detox right now.
The first time I did this back in 2021, it was a truly transformative experience. I found things out about what I was giving my attention to that changed my behavior from then on.
Part of the motivation in this moment comes from a realization I had during my vacation last month. My wife and I had been taking our phones to the beach every day. One day after about a week on vacation we were halfway to the beach when we realized we’d left our phones back at the house. Now we knew we had genuinely arrived on our vacation, because not only had we not cared to pack the phones for the beach, but we also didn’t care to go back to the house to get them. There was no need for our phones at the beach.
For the following week, the only reason I picked up my phone was to check the weather, the tides, and the shark activity.
It is such freedom not to be tethered to a digital device.
You realize how unnecessary this attachment is and you realize how much it distracts you from the real life, the real world around you.
I want to bring more of that into my “real” life outside of vacation.
Cultivating New Habits
The other things I’m focusing on right now are reducing my caffeine intake, and starting an exercise program that includes running, biking, weightlifting, and yoga.
Ha, yeah, all at once.
As I write that, I’m pretty sure I won’t do all of those things. But what if I just did?
What if eliminating all the other distractions was what I needed to be able to start taking on some of those new activities and developing new habits?
That’s really what I’m exploring.
In other words, what is the opportunity cost of staying with the distractions of our digital world?
What are you missing out on by remaining so attached and addicted to all that digital content?
What are you avoiding?
What about you? Are you on your phone all the time? Are you doing work? Email? Something else? Are you doing this outside of work hours? Have you set boundaries around your work hours?
I’m genuinely curious to know: is social media so critical to people’s lives, they need to walk around head down, ignoring the world as it passes them by? I see people doing this in my city every time I go out. Not many, but every time I’m out, I see at least two people doing exactly that: blindly walking around, head down in their phone, oblivious to what’s going on around them.
Is there something there that is really so important? So fascinating?
Getting Real
There is an epidemic of distraction occurring in our society right now and this has a big impact on our ability to live the life we truly want and dream of.
The impact of turning off all those inputs you’re hooked into all the time - even for a short time - cannot be overemphasized.
When you do eliminate those unnecessary distractions, you’ll find very quickly that your world starts to take on a new character. You’ll start to see things you never noticed before and a whole new world opens up for you.
Will you get bored? Maybe, but this is temporary until you find new and more beneficial things to occupy yourself with.
Would you be willing to make a commitment to do this for at least 2 days this week and see what happens?
Join me on this journey and let’s share what happens with each other.
If you want to know more or to follow my progress, I’ll be sharing my progress and insights in my online community. You find us here if you’re already a member or sign up here with a 2-week free trial.
Focus To Freedom
How do we disconnect from all those distractions anyway?
For busy and overwhelmed professionals like you, my “Focus To Freedom” workshop teaches you 3 simple techniques to eliminate distractions and maintain focus in order to stay on task and complete projects more efficiently and effectively.
Find all the details here.
Swiss Mountain Meditation Retreat
And if you find yourself in a more quiet and contemplative space and want to experience more of that, consider joining our retreat in October.
This retreat is a perfect opportunity to disconnect and drop into a quiet space with others doing the same thing.
Find all details here.
