And that’s a wrap! I did my “digital detox” for the 30 days of April. You can read the rules I setup on that link, but basically I removed most notifications from my phone/watch and committed to not checking most social media sites on my phone or computer for 30 days. I also limited my TV and video game time.
It honestly was not as hard as I thought it would be. The first week or so I did find myself mindlessly grabbing for my phone during any down or slow times. Once that initial urge passed, I found myself actually thinking about stuff. Crazy, right? I also had more time to read and time to focus on projects, tasks, etc. It was actually pretty great.
The key was having a high quality replacement for the low quality stuff I was giving up. I kept whatever book I was reading with me at all times and found myself reading little bits here and there. I ended up finishing about 4.5 books (I’m half-way through Sapiens now … which is a yuuuge book) in just 30 days. Yowza!
My next step is to consider what apps, sites, and services I want to re-introduce into my life. They were most certainly a time suck like no other … but there was some value in some of them. The bottom line is that I need to be mindful of how I re-introduce these time sucks into my limited attention life.
If you’re at all weary of social media like I was, I highly recommend you pick up Cal Newport’s “Digital Minimalism“. Read it and do the digital detox challenge. Note: Newport calls it a “digital declutter”, but I like detox better. If you do, please let me know … I’d love to follow your progress!
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[…] directed in the book, I did a 30 day digital detox. It was a very interesting experience. I was shocked how much I mindlessly grab for my phone during […]