Not long after moving to Spain I had a revelation when I was overlooking a beautiful view of the water over our new town and I automatically grabbed my phone for a photo and uploaded it to facebook. As I started to think I realised the relationship that I have with my devices was affecting the way I live my life. As you look around people are on their screens all the time (me included) rather than living life.

I decided to have a ‘digital detox’ where I would have a week screen free (the only exception being using spotify because I'm a music freak and a week music free would be crazy!).

The first day screen free I noticed how much time I must be wasting on screens as I got so much more done - I think our brain tricks us into thinking we use our devices less than we actually do. I am a keen reader and nearly finished a whole book on that first day! The second day I felt a bit down and looking back I have done some research about how screens affect the brain and dopamine (especially social media) and my brain was detoxing as it wasn't constantly getting that hit of dopamine.

What I also noticed as I would walk around town is the small things that I had been missing as I had been on my device (shops I never noticed were there and how people interact with each other). Also when talking to people without a distraction I could also listen better as my mind and attention was fully focused on what they were saying rather than being distracted by a screen.

A big part of the attractiveness of screens is that they are an instant cure for boredom - you have the whole world of information at your fingertips. Ever found yourself waiting at the doctor and spent that time reading the news/scrolling mindlessly through social media or playing candy crush??! I started to realise quickly that at these times its ok to be ‘in the moment’ and just be present. Being ‘bored’ also gives you time to think and it was during these times I started to think more about blogging and the different content I could offer.

After the week was up I logged back onto facebook and realised I hadn't missed anything important and it was just the same memes and irrelevant stories. A couple of weeks later and I have barely been back on facebook (but now I spend that time on Steem… 😀😀.

After this week I decided to create some ‘rules’ about screen use:
No screens while eating
No screens in the bedrooms
No screens in public e.g while walking the streets or out for a coffee
Keeping your phone out of arm's reach to avoid the temptation to waste time on needless browsing

I think that having some rules around technology and screens can be beneficial as they can be a great tool when used correctly but can also control our lives.

I highly recommend listening to the podcast ‘Note to Self’ as they had a mini series called bored and brilliant which focuses on how to be more mindful of our screen use.

Photos taken from the free stock photo website pexels.com