Digital Detox Tips by Marina Ferri, from Blueprint Social

Our January wellness series continues. This week Marina Ferri from Blueprint Social, shares with us her five digital detox tips

Digital Detox Tips
by Marina Ferri, from Blueprint Social

Time for a Mini Digital Detox? Let's be realistic: January 2021 is unlikely to be a particularly successful month to attempt a total digital detox. Our daily lives are pretty much dependent on screens and reliable Wi-Fi, BUT there are a few tricks we can implement to reduce our exposure to digital media.

1. Zoom fatigue. Online lessons, Friday catch ups with colleagues, yoga glasses, online meetings - it can get overwhelming.  Is it necessary to have the camera on the whole time? What happened to a good old-fashioned phone conversation with a client? Don't feel compelled to turn the camera on 100% of the time unless it is necessary.
2. How many Whatsapp groups are you part of? Make a conscious effort to cut out a few hours of "downtime" daily and mute your Whatsapp notifications during that period.
3. Is your phone your bedmate? When you go to sleep don't leave your phone on your bedside table - is this the hardest one? It may feel a step too far leaving it in a different room altogether, but even just putting it somewhere outside your immediate reach (aka you must get out of bed to check your phone) will help.
4. Connect in other ways. Ban phones from the dinner table and enjoy a conversation with the people you live with, or read a good book if you are on your own.
5. Set limits. Limit how much time you spend on each app. You can use the Screen Time feature if you have an iPhone, but there are loads of similar functions that work on Androids. Get someone to set the pin number to unlock the restriction if you are feeling particularly brave to take on this challenge but are conscious of compliance.

Marina Ferri, is a social media expert at Blueprint Social www.blueprint-social.com