It’s not always easy to ignore an e-mail that has just come in, or to leave your smartphone in your bag for a few hours. But nevertheless, more and more people are discovering how nice it is to be off the radar every now and then. We give you five tips for a digital detox.
- Turn off al notifications on your phone and only check for messages at set times.
- Discover that it’s quite possible to be unavailable for a short period, and to take some more time before responding to an e-mail or message.
- Be selective with respect to which messages you respond to right away. If you always respond within five minutes, you create expectations.
- Make agreements at home with yourself and those you live with about when you will all go offline. Then have everyone put their phones, tablets and other devices out of sight during those periods.
- Are you often distracted when trying to finish your work? Set aside blocks of one or two hours of focused and offline working time. For most people, the beginning of the day is the most focused, but do whatever works best for you. After those hours, allow yourself a break to check your e-mail or Facebook.
- You can read the article ‘Screen time-out’ in Issue 16.
- We’re having a Social Detox Week on the blog. See all tips and blogs here.
- Flow introduces a Social Out of Office to let people on social media know you’re temporarily unavailable. Do you want to know how you can use it? Go to Flowmagazine.com/socialooo.
Text Jeannette Jonker Photography Pavan Trikutam/Unsplash.com
