Digital Detox : what I learnt and why you should take one too

Digital detox is the buzz word right now and I’ll be honest, I used to brush it off a bit. Yeah, I use my phone a lot but it’s not that bad. But when I actually took a real and proper digital detox, It’s really been life changing.

Don’t get me wrong, I try and have social media free days regularly, and I read How to break up with your phone multiple times. I knew the benefits of taking breaks from your phone but I never fully took it on.

However, after life felt like it was getting on top of me, I just wanted to run away. So I took a step away from social media, and tech in general.

I’ve been blogging for a long time. I’ve been on social media a long time and never taken a proper break. So it was needed.

Turning my phone off and putting it in my draw felt scary. My phone probably went into shock because I just don’t turn it off!

It probably sounds silly but I felt a bit lost without my phone at first. My hand was twitching – basically I had phantom scrolling. But after the initial shock on the first few days, I slowly started to ease into the digital detox and started to feel a real benefit to it.

5 benefits I felt from taking a digital detox…

I actually do have time for things

Some things I love in life; reading, baking & cooking, watching box sets, going on walks. Yet I found myself hardly doing any of them, and when I was doing them just not being present in it.

I love reading but I felt like I had no time for it. The same with baking and cooking. Sometimes I’d be in a real routine and enjoying it but a lot of the time I told myself I just didn’t have time for it. As for box sets, I love telly but found myself just mindlessly scrolling rather than actually watching.

But when I turned my phone off, suddenly I had more time to do these things. I read 5 books, done so much baking and enjoyed the shows I’ve been watching more.

I felt less anxious

Going into the digital detox, my mental health wasn’t in the best place. Whilst it didn’t improve straight away, in fact I still felt anxious from FOMO, I slowly started it see it improving. As I stepped away from social media, and the constant hustle culture, I started to feel calmer and happier.

As I started going on longer walks, reading more, spending more time doing things I just felt lighter and brighter.

Digital detox = better quality of sleep

I feel like we’re all pretty aware of the affects of screens on our sleep. And I can confirm that a few weeks away from my phone really has improved my quality of sleep. I seem to be sleeping more deeply as well as getting to sleep quicker as well.

I can recommend it for sure!

Concentration + focus improved

I’m mortified to say that I’d got to the point where I couldn’t concentrate even reading for very long. However since stepping out of social media and my phone, I’ve noticed my concentration and focus has started to improve a lot.

I also started to write more as well, with actual pen and paper. And that really felt freeing and quite cathartic as well.

Being more present in life

And finally, I started to feel more present. From noticing things in nature, to enjoying what I’m doing more. I started being able to listen to my intuition more as well and really worked through mindset blocks which I’d been facing.

As I started to feel more present, things started to make more sense in my head and I found real joy of just been present in the moment.

How to know you need a digital detox…

I felt burnout coming and I was hitting a brick wall. For me, a digital detox came from a place of crisis and I don’t recommend getting to that point!

We all need to take a break from our tech. We all need to take regular breaks from social media too. Schedule them in regularly to stop you from getting too close to that brick wall.

Whether you take a day a week away from it all, or maybe a full weekend.

Some signs you may need a digital detox include;

• Feeling demotivated
• Comparing yourself to others online
• Catching yourself mindlessly scrolling, and not feeling good about it

But, like I said, you don’t need to be feeling any of this to take a digital detox. Try taking a week away from everything, and then reevaluate your relationship with your phone and social media.

I’m currently in the reevaluate phase, to see long term what I can do to not feel overwhelmed by it all.

Have you taken a digital detox? Or do you think you need one? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!