How To Do A Successful Digital Detox

Restore Your Inner Balance

We all know how important it is to put down our phones, tablets, and turn off the television. Choosing to do a digital detox seems simple enough until we realize how habitual we are with our technology. Think about how many times you pick up for phone for no reason – even if you just set it down. 

Doing a digital detox is extremely beneficial to our overall wellness. So, how do you do a digital detox successfully? You need to interrupt your habits and keep yourself from getting bored. While that may sound a bit challenging, it just requires you to be intentional. Here are four things you can do to ensure you can successfully do a digital detox. 

Spend a Day Without Your Phone

For those of us with deeply conditioned habits, the simplest way to ensure you can successfully do a digital detox for more than a couple hours is to remove technology from the equation. That’s quite the feat in your own home. Getting away and physically separating yourself from your electronics is a very effective approach.

Plan a day doing several things you enjoy like going on a walk, shopping, getting lunch or coffee at your favorite spot, etc. You could also treat yourself to a visit to Deer Lake Lodge. The most important part of the plan is to leave your phone at home.

Get Away for the Weekend 

Sometimes our digital detox needs to last longer than a day. In that case, book a time to get away from your day-to-day. Leave your phone, laptop, and tablet at home, and simply enjoy being present in a new scenery. You may need to bring your phone for safety reasons, in which case you can leave it in your luggage turned off.

To keep yourself entertained, bring a book you have had on your list for a while – we all have one (or a few) of those. You can also pack a journal to get back in touch with your thoughts. Another idea is to bring board games if you’re bringing your family with you. However you spend your time away, you will come back home feeling more balanced because you got the rest you needed – guaranteed. 

Identify “No Technology” Spaces

Our first tips to ensure you can do a digital detox are more challenging to do routinely. Getting away for a day (or a couple days) may very well be needed sometimes, but we have to find ways to build digital detoxes into our day-to-day life. One way you can do that is to identify specific spaces in your home that you do not allow  technology. A great place for that is in your bedroom – your personal sanctuary.

Whatever space you choose, ensure it’s one you’re in daily so you can have a mini “digital detox” routinely. You will likely need to have other forms of entertainment in that space to ensure you actually spend time doing your digital detox. That presents another opportunity for books and a journal you can have in your tech-free zone. 

Have a “Tech-Free” Day of the Week

An additional way to routinely find time for a digital detox is with a weekly technology-free day in your home. Implementing this successfully will require proactive planning, but that can be an exciting component of this. The key to successfully avoiding technology for a day is to ensure you (and maybe your family) don’t get bored and give in to temptation. We suggest you plan some activities you can do that day in advance, so you actually look forward to the tech-free day.

Some activity ideas could be to get crafty, find a few recipes you want to try (and print them/write them down), or you can tap into your creative side with a new hobby. Spending an entire day in your home without technology will feel strange at first. Once you establish the habit, however, you will begin to relish the opportunity to do a digital detox reliably. 

Routinely Doing a Digital Detox Leads to Improved Wellness

Technology is a massive obstacle in the way of us getting rest and restoring our inner balance. It may feel as though we are “resting” when we are scrolling social media in bed, but we are not in a relaxed mental state when we’re consuming content at such a rapid pace. Beyond that, even the blue light from your phone interrupts your body’s ability to rest.

To work toward heightened wellness on a regular basis, consider any one of the tips we shared today to do a successful digital detox. Your mind, body, and soul will thank you.