Digital Detox 101
It’s the beginning of a new month and after a long weekend holiday, a new week! Let’s talk about something all of us could benefit from: a digital detox. Aside from the fact that you may be spending too much time in your digital life, when was the last time you went through and organized it? Yes, you can organize your digital life as well. We took a week off from social and, let me tell you, it was a game changer! ;) Below we’re laying out the groundwork towards a cleaner, healthier relationship with your digital life. Even if you start with only one of these, you’re on the right track.
Set a screen viewing limit
If you find yourself on your phone for most of the day, endlessly scrolling or picking up your device for no reason, it may benefit you to create a screen viewing limit. There are now built-in options to help you become aware of just how much you’re using your phone. These options also include breakdowns of what you’re spending your precious time on whether it’s social networking, creativity, health and fitness etc.You can monitor how many times you pick up your phone and for what - this is the future we’re talking about here, and the sooner you become friends with these scary statistics, the sooner you may get some of your life back! Start small and aim for 30 minutes less screen time a day.
Clean up your apps
If you’re one of those people who have all of your apps organized by category and color, this one may not be for you. For those of you who download an app a month, it’s time to sift through the noise and only have what is absolutely necessary on your phone. That photo editing app that you haven’t used since December 2017 is taking up coveted space on your phone and in your mind (believe it or not). In the same way that we purge clothes we haven’t worn for 6 months to a year, it’s the same for the apps. If you haven’t used it, send it to the digital trash.
Back up your photos
With so many options (most of them free!) to back up your phone, it’s a no brainer to do this and free up space on your phone. When you go through and back up thousands of photos, not only do you get a chance to go through, relive memories, get rid of random shots of the ground, but you also get to start fresh. Knowing your photos and videos are in a safe place (say, google photos) with an app to access them at any time, gives you the ease to offload them off your phone and have more space for more photos and space!
Unsubscribe to the unimportant things
We could write an entire blog post on how to clean up your e-mail (if you’re interested, let us know in the comments below!) but the bare minimum of the beginning of this purge is to unsubscribe from spam, newsletters, stores etc. that you no longer read or have any interest in. It can be exhausting to wake up to a full inbox of deals and unfiltered messages. We totally understand how some of you may have unread messages in the thousands because of how daunting it is to even consider this process. It all starts with one. We’re asking you to start with five different newsletters or stores that no longer serve you. Unsubscribe from them and take back your power of your inbox!
Say goodbye to Ralph from high school
To be in your contacts is a privilege, or at least that’s how it should feel like. You may have duplicates, people from random places you went seven years ago, and even names you don’t even recognize. While your contacts may be an out of sight, out of mind location on your phone, it’s still worth your time to sift through and delete anyone who no longer belongs in your (mental) space.
These are five simple ways to get started on clearing out your phone. Since it’s something you use on the daily, having it clean and organized will help you streamline your usage of it and also help it to become more efficient at its job. Let us know how it goes and what other digital detox tips you may have that have changed the game for you!