Social media detox – The Grounded Tree

We are in a digital era where technology is rapidly moving forward and new social apps keep popping up everywhere. We enter the rabbit hole of aimlessly scrolling through these apps, constantly updating ourselves with the latest news and sharing information with the world to get a response. We are inundated with a unanimous amount of information about the harm our phones are doing to us.

So what can we do to change this worldwide discussion on the negativities about our phones?

It all lies in the intent of using the phone.

The producers of technology thrive from our constant use of technology, have you ever noticed whenever you get a message your phone brightly lights up or when you get a notification the sounds or vibrations lasted a bit longer than usual? Theses are all savvy techniques to keep up connected to our phones and they’ve been planted so in-depth within us, it’s automatic reaction to grab it.

We all fall into this trap including myself. I have a love-hate relationship with my phone because on numerous occasions( too many that I want to admit) I will be using my phone for a particular reason and then all of a sudden my finger has exited out of the thing I was intended to be using and automatically, I unconsciously head over the social apps where I spend an endless amount of hours scrolling through, trying to get to the end of the page; which you’re not able to because the creators want you to keep scrolling. In the end, I feel unproductive and wasted an insane amount of time.

So how do we intentionally use our phone? Here are some daily habits you can do to intentionally use your phone:

Having a habit tracker will enable you to keep a record on how productive and intentional you are doing with your task- I use an app called Habit that sends reminders on healthy habits you would like to form. As you tick off the habit for the day, the percentage goes up and before you realise it will be 100% and you’ve formed a long term healthy habit.

Having a set timer or blocker that helps you stay off your phone can boost your productivity and not heavily rely on your phone for social use.

Don’t use your phone before you go to bed- You will often find yourself not being able to sleep from the brightly lit screen.

Only use your phone for what you need to do!

Create a phone-free zone

Turn your phone upside down, this will help from constantly picking up your phone when a notification arrives.

What are your top tips for using your phone intentionally?

Live everyday with gratitude X

I am back from hiding underneath the rabbit hole..no I joke…I am back from my social media detox. I gave up Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. It has been pretty hard being without social media but I felt like I was some what addicted to it, so I thought this challenge would really determine if I can live without social media and the truth is….. I BLOODY CAN! Yes, it was painful at time but below I take you through a day to day of my thoughts during the week.

Day 1: So far so good,I am feeling optimistic about fulfilling this detox. How hard can it be?

Day 2: I haven’t really missed Instagram or Snapchat that much. But, I am glad that I have been very productive as I know I would slip into boredom. It didn’t bother me that when I went out with my friends they were snap chatting their experiences. After all I do have a camera roll on my phone.

Day 3: It started out great….now I am kinda of missing something to aimlessly scroll through. I keep swapping between whats app and my camera roll ( which neither has changed within the last 2 minutes). I have revived in old hobbies that I thought I’ll never get back into. I think when you’ve done everything you possibly can to distract yourself, it’s hard to sit down and do nothing.

P.S I totally forgot it was International Womens Day- I usually rely on twitter or Facebook to tell me. HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY!!

Day 4: I have been thinking about this detox and although it’s good that I am doing it. I do not think it will make any difference when I go back on to social media. It might give me an awareness to how many times I click onto the apps but, I will go back to my old ways very soon ( I can sense it).

Day 5: What a day..I spent the day in a confined room all day with nothing to do. I really wanted to just have a cheat day and just go on social media but then the more I thought about it, the more I realised it won’t be beneficial to me as I personally decided to do this challenge (and I don’t give up easily). All in all it was a hard day and I’m so thankful I completed the whole day without caving it.

p.s I thought this gets better with time?

Day 6: I felt pretty good and couldn’t believe my time is nearly up. My mindset has completely changed from yesterday and I do not miss it at all.

Day 7: Yay! I have actually made it through the week without social media and although I was having withdrawal symptoms ( I sound like an addict), overall I actually did not mind having it. I was more productive, I was more social and my mood was great.

I think everyone should go on a week detox and monitor their day to day feelings of how you feel you’ll be surprised!

Thank you for reading X