Skip to main content

Digital Detox - My digital diet


Spending a summer in Europe you can expect a few things, a good tan, sore feet from all the walking and shopping and to return home being a little heavier no thanks to the fabulous food. One thing I didn't expect, how much I would enjoy my digital diet.

Why?
Having data roaming switched off on my phone, meant it performed a little better than our phones did in the 90s. No internet access (unless at the hotel), no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube. Most apps provided little if any help, and if you think this isn't hard, I urge you to try it, even for a week!

Though I thought my digital experience was being hindered, it wasn't until a week into it, somewhere in the south of Spain when I let go. I unequivocally accepted that there was no good reason I actually needed the internet. Not only was my digital experience not being hindered, but it was being enhanced!

Late every evening we'd return to the hotel - if wifi was available - I would get my digest of social media, footy scores, news and current events from back home; I would even occasionally sneak a peek at the TV guide at home, to see if anything was worth recording. Basically, I would spend 10-15 mins enjoying the internet at its best. It felt great knowing that our time together would be short and sweet and on some days, non-existent.

There were no scenarios where someone in the group could ruin a perfectly good argument/discussion by saying 'You're wrong (I think), Google it!', which I hate; no one rudely on Facebook while you were talking to them; no one 'checking-in' to the restaurant; it was simple and we all loved it.

The Diet
So after returning home I thought, how great was that! How could I use this experience to curb my enthusiasm for the digital world and use it more as a privilege as opposed to a human right.

So, from the day I returned, here are a few things I changed and have never looked back:
  • if in a conversation/meeting, never reach for your device unless it is relevant to do so, or without excusing yourself
  • do not respond to an email while driving, you never get a chance to proof read it and a good response is better than a quick response in most scenarios (plus it's dangerous!)
  • limit your use of the internet to designated periods of time, preferably when you are not with friends and/or family (obviously at/for work is different)
  • don't trade time with loved ones for Facebook et al
  • don't use your device as a morning alarm, buy a $5 alarm clock instead
  • purposely 'forget' your phone/device at home every now and again, it's liberating once you actually let go
  • switch your phone OFF at night, it'll do it and you good
  • if you use your device in the toilet, be sure to wipe it with a little sanitiser once you're done (16% of mobile phone users have traces of fecal matter on them*)
  • don't judge someone based on the phone, tablet or laptop they have
  • mute your phone or have it set to vibrate when at work
  • finally, under no circumstances are you to attempt to prove someone wrong by 'Googeling it'!
I honestly do hope you try this diet (to some degree) and you start using the digital realm as it was meant to be used, to enhance life, not run it!

THE MORAL:
MOBILE DEVICES AND INTERNET ARE A PRIVILEGE NOT A RIGHT. IF YOU DON'T HAVE SERVICE FOR A LITTLE WHILE, YOU'LL LIVE!



* Phone etiquette study conducted by the Online College http://www.onlinecollege.org/



Comments

  1. Fantastic blog really!
    Please also read these articles, I think you'll like them.
    http://www.hamiltondietetics.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree, can I also just add, more on the side of mobile etiquette; that if a phone is set to vibrate in a meeting and it begins to vibrate, it's distracting so be sure to click the power button once to stop it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Anon. I completely agree, I have this happen to me also more times then I'd like, though I must say people are becoming much more aware of their vibrations, especially since 'custom vibrations' are now a standard feature, and can be much more annoying.

    P.s. I love the new 'do not disturb' feature on the iPhone iOS 6, do try that on for size in you next meeting!

    Thanks
    iAm Digital

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4 things to do first on social media

You have a website, now what? It's still somewhat surprising, that businesses (both online & traditional) are still in the dark about social media and what to do first. So below are 4 things to take care of first, on social media: 1. Get access: Is your I.T. department part of the silly bunch who still blocks YouTube, Facebook or Twitter? A study conducted by The University of Melbourne has found that, basically, you’re 9% more productive then someone who doesn’t surf the web (non-work related surfing). Video sum up of the study (University of Melbourne): http://youtu.be/Ga-8__7tgkE if you prefer to read about it, click here . 2. Get a copy of your company’s social media guidelines: A quick search on Google, for some of the bigger companies such as Telstra, Deloitte, etc have their internal social media guidelines available for download, and if you’re lucky enough to develop guidelines for your company, remind everybody they are called guidelines, not roadblocks. 3.

STOP. COLLABORATE AND LISTEN

Are QR codes really the answer?  Who would have thought when the National Cabinet (Australia's state and federal heads of) and their teams got together, to talk about a "state of the art" contact tracing system here in Oz, that was required to bridge the real world to the digital, that we’d land on QR codes... oh my. Today's genius  Think about where we're at with technology in 2021. All the genius we have access to from remote plant climate management like that offered by Roots Sustainable Agriculture. Tech for brain powered prosthetics. Or how about noses (yes, like the one on your face) with artificial intelligence (A.I) like that of Brainchip Holdings, which have the same sniff sensitivity to minute quantities of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) as a dog's nose developed in 2017. These A.I. noses can, through smell, identify diseases including Parkinson's, cancers, kidney failure, multiple sclerosis and infectious diseases, such as, you guessed it,

Google’s changing the speed. How does your website keep up?

As announced in 2020, Google will be updating the way it ranks your website from May 2021. The update places user experience (UX) at the core of the influencer scale. So, building an amazing new site for a client or updating your existing one with the following UX principles, has never been more important. The 3 elements of page experience An awesome page experience ensures visitors are more efficient with the time spent on your website. Not only making it a better experience for the person but a more engaging one with your brand and/or business . The other side of the coin, a crappy experience, of course, equates to someone struggling to find what they’re looking for and wasting valuable time doing it. In essence there are 3 primary areas that Google will be focusing on in this update: Loading time – how speedy does your site appears. Interactivity – how speedy does your site respond to various inputs. Visual Stability – how much does your website layout move around while load