Digital detox

HOW MUCH OF YOUR LIFE IS SEEN THROUGH A SCREEN?

Ask yourself honestly how often you truly experience what is happening around you and within you?

When did you last see an amazing sunrise or sunset? Did you stop and marvel at the utter magic of the moment?
Or did you grab your smartphone to ‘click’ a picture, or turn your back on the scene and take a selfie? Did you then proceed to edit the image and post on a social media app or did you settle back into the moment?

​How many mindless moments are lost to our smartphone screens and how many mindful moments are interrupted by our (or someone else's) smartphone?

A little insight into some statistics:

• 200 times per day: the average number of device pick ups per day. 
• Almost 75% of us cannot spend a day without checking a digital device. 
• Over 70% never turn off their phone and almost 80% say they could not live without it.
• ​Over 40% of us think our partner uses their smartphone ‘too much’ .
• Over 25% of people spend more time online than sleeping. 
• Over 50% check their phone within 5 minutes of waking and 5 minutes before going to bed. The first and last thought of the day provided by your smartphone….

How often do you feel stressed at work because you're not quite getting things done? Potentially 200 ‘bleeps’ of your phone ‘notify’ you something (mostly) futile - interrupting your focus and taking away your attention from the life in front of you in that moment.

Is your productivity declining because stress is out of control or your attachment to life ‘in the internet’ is? 
​
There have been countless studies and surveys done on the subject of smartphone usage - both their benefits and adverse effects on health. Because of the importance of the data collected, smartphone manufacturers' have made it possible for you to monitor your screen time, and I strongly urge to use this facility. 

Question:
If I spend 2.5 hours a day on my smartphone. What am I losing?

Answer: 
37 days of lost life.

​

​
The most recent statistics from Ofcom.org.uk have indicated that the average amount of time spent online is 2 hours and 28 minutes per day. Just imagine what you could learn, teach, experience with 37 days of life given back to you? 
And to top it off a Harvard study showed that around 47% of our life is lost in thought - in addition to life 'lost in phone'.
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/11/wandering-mind-not-a-happy-mind/

When I teach mindfulness I talk about the ‘currency of time’ since we all understand how much life costs. In this respect, mindfully we could gift ourselves a month long retreat in Bali while enhancing our wellness and love for life, for very little sacrifice. All by letting go of some of the time we attach ourselves to a screen.

Learn to harness the energy of mindfulness to make your life - and the lives of those around you - more meaningful and full. 

Some useful tips to digitally detoxify your world - and be sure to set achievable targets:
​

• No phones when shopping or exercising. 
• No phones 1 hour prior to bed and 30 minutes after waking up. 
• No phones in bedroom. No phones at mealtimes.
• Take a weekend off for a fuller digital detox.
• Tell others you’re doing it and maybe you can do it together. At work and at home. 
• Take a ‘Mindfulness Break’ and attend to your breathing with awareness for 10 minutes with your phone off.​

​Do more with your life than spend it watching other peoples worlds through a screen. ​