What is digital minimalism?

For now this will be my last blogpost of the minimalism blog series. However, I want to wrap it up with an important topic about digital detox. The time wasted on mobile devices is increasing year by year. On average an US adult is spending around 3 1/2 hours on their smartphones or surfing the web daily. One reason for this increase might be that, due to the ability of connecting socially with friends and family through Whatsapp, Instagram or the newest invention TikTok, in person meet-ups are becoming rare. Especially through the Corona situation and the lockdown measures, people used their smartphone more often to stay in touch with their surroundings. As slowly everything turns back to normal (hopefully!) you should start rethinking the usage of your mobile devices.

What is a digital detox?

You normally relate the word “detox” to some kind of diets which can help to detoxify and purify the body of environmental toxins. For instance The Frank Juice is a German company where you can order different juices to either do a 1,2 or 5 day juice cleanse.

A digital detox works pretty similar. You incorporate days in your daily life where you will not use your smartphone or other online devices. The changeover might be difficult in the beginning because we are used to be online all the time. After doing it for a while you will notice first results that you are less stressed and more balanced.

Another phenomenon which has grown through the use of Social Media is called FoMo. The Fear of Missing out which is a social anxiety characterized by a desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing. It is important to understand that you do not have to be constantly available for others. Making time and room for yourself should be your first priority.

Limit your screen time

On your phone you have the possibility to check your screen-time and the activity of your most used apps. It might be scary to see how much valuable time got wasted on your phone. In the iPhone settings you have the possibility to set time limits for your app categories. You will receive a notification 5 minutes before you have reached your limit. Afterwards your app will be “frozen” until the next day. Of course in urgent cases you can reset it with your individual password at any time but this should really be the exception. By limiting your hours you spend online you will have more time to dedicate for joyful offline activities.

Declutter your smartphone

There are many useful apps which help you to organize yourself or to save you a lot of time. However there are also apps which you’ve downloaded once and realized that they do not bring you any additional value.

Go through all your applications and check if you really need them. If not, delete them from your phone. The next step is to turn off all the unnecessary notifications you receive from e.g. shopping, social media or news apps. The sooner you will not be interrupted by meaningless notification, the more focused you can work on your projects. (Check out Vero’s blogpost 2 apps to make you stop scrolling through Instagram (or whatever distracts you))

Do the same for your e-mail inbox. Unsubscribe from random newsletters to make space in your inbox. Start to organize your inbox with folders and subfolders that you find important emails more quickly when you need them.

Practice mindfulness

In one of my previous posts I shared with you how to create the habit of meditating. In order to pay attention to the present moment and focus on your thoughts and emotions it will allow you to become more connected with your inner self.

To sum up social media does not only causes bad. It is a source of inspiration and also an amazing tool to stay in touch with friends and family all around the world. But as soon as it impacts your self worth or makes you think you are not good enough in comparison to what you see online – this is the moment when it starts getting toxic and a sign to put away the phone and find your way back to your true inner self.

Your life isn’t yours if you always care what others think – unknown

I hope you enjoyed my blog series and if you have not read my other posts yet. Click here 🙂