1. Phone free zone for the bedroom (buy an alarm clock)

Studies have shown that too much consumption of digital technology can have an effect on our quality of sleep and usually the biggest antagonist of this is when people consume technology right before bed time or even as they are drifting off to sleep.

It is very common for people to have their smartphone sitting on their bedside table on charge as they sleep every night and the primary reason that people give for having the digital device sitting right next to their head of a night is because they use the device’s alarm clock function in order to wake them up each morning.

What did we do before smart phones existed? Thats right we used the old fashion alarm clocks which seemed to be just as effective yet without the temptation of promoting further digital consumption especially as we are going to bed and as we are waking up.

The problem is that having a smartphone device sitting next to your bed for the “purpose of using it as an alarm clock” means that we unwittingly tend to use the digital device to read or surf social media just prior to falling asleep. This is not good for letting the mind prepare for sleep and fall into a more relaxed state of mind. The bright fluorescent light and the often unimportant material being consumed by the brain completely conflicts with the relaxed state of mind that one needs to prepare for a good quality nights sleep.

Whats also unhealthy for the mind it that after we fall asleep immediately after consuming the technology from our smart phones we then wake up several hours later by the noise of the smart phones alarm clock. The temptation is there to grab your smart phone and begin to read material or again begin to surf social media for more unimportant material.

So we find that we are falling to sleep by consuming digital technology and then waking up by consuming digital technology and it is for this very reason that you should completely remove your smart phone from your bedroom, invest in an alarm clock (which can be very cheap) and begin to set your bedroom environment as a place where both your body and your brain can experience complete relaxation.

Even by removing digital devices from your bedroom you should also put all digital devices down at least 30 to 60 minutes prior to bed anyway.

This is one of the most important steps you can take in the daily digital detox process. If you are not convince then at least give it a go for a week or two and see assess whether or not you feel you have been getting better nights sleep.

2. Change your digital device notifications

Notifications on your smart phone or tablet device can be one of the biggest triggers in attracting you to consume digital technology. Most people have set their digital devices up in a way that whenever an application or program on their devices receives some activity then a notification of the activity will pop up on the screen of the digital device. Upon receiving a notification the digital device will generally make a sound, vibrate or light up the device’s screen which will generally grab the attention of the user and see the user picking up their device to see what the notification is. Most devices these days will allow you to tap on the notification that appears on the screen and will then proceed to open up the application or program so that you can see what activity has occurred and allow you to take any particular action you wish to on that activity.

The problem is that once a notification pops up on the screen it is seen as a major temptation to go into the application and find out what the notification is about. Once your are sucked into the application you will then unwittingly spend a lot of time consuming the digital material surrounding that application or program.

Often a notification can be as unimportant as someone “liking” or “favouriting” a picture or comment you have posted on Facebook or Twitter. But once you have acted upon the notification temptation you find yourself opening the application up and spending a large amount of time using the program far beyond simply checking the activity that occurred from the notification popup.

Not only can digital device notifications promote unnecessary use of your digital devices but you will find that it can waste a huge amount of your time.

The solution to these issues is so easy, it is simply a matter of going into the settings section of your particular digital device and turning off the notifications settings for your device’s applications or programs.

Give it a go because it will have a huge effect on your daily digital detox routine and your will notice the reduction in your digital consumption immediately. You will also notice a massive reduction in your procrastination.

4. Speak instead of text

It’s primarily for this reason that you should consciously consider whether or not you would save time by making a quick phone call rather than communicating via text message, email or instant messenger.

The other positive to making a call rather than text is that it is far more personable and your communication and message is far less likely to be lost in translation. We all know that sometimes text can not relay the appropriate message that a person is trying to out across to the recipient and this can certainly be avoided via voice or video communication.

So it’s worth making a habit of thinking to yourself when deciding to text someone or even when you receive a text from someone – would it be easier, quicker and less consuming to just make a quick phone call to get the conversation out of the way a lot quicker?

5. Use a Camera not your Phone

If you are going somewhere and you know there is a strong chance that you will want to take some happy snaps then you should consider taking a small digital camera – remember those things? Use a digital camera instead of taking photos with your smart phone. Now I know what your probably thinking – all you are doing is replacing the use of one digital device (smart phone) with another digital device (digital camera). Well yes this may be true but the way we look at this digital detox tip is basically reducing one evil with that of a lesser evil, so to speak.

In other words we are seeking to reduce the use of the smart phone camera in particular circumstances since the use of the smart phone camera inevitably leads to further use of the digital device. For example you may recall being in a situation where you have taken a great picture with your smart phone and because its such a great picture you feel the need to share it with all of your friends immediately.

So what do you do?

Well you jump onto Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or another social media site to share your happy snaps with your friends which of course leads to your friends commenting on the picture and creates a whole new source of distraction away from your existing environment and puts your attention towards your digital device.

The smart way around this is to use a digital camera which will still allow you to take those happy snaps and allow you to share them with your friends via your social networks. However, the big difference between using a smart phone and a digital camera is that you will not have the temptation of engaging in further protracted form of digital consumption by using your smart phone and then engaging in social networking.

The smart phone will unwittingly lead you to more digital consumption than just using a digital camera and setting a specific period of time at a later stage to uploading and sharing your pictures as you see fit. The other great thing about this digital detox hack is that you will tend to remain engaged in the environment that you are in when you take the picture and certainly appreciate the environment and surroundings to a greater extent rather than ignoring much of it because you are pre-occupied with sharing your pictures immediately and getting caught up in additional digital consumption.

6. Read hard books instead of eBooks

This may be an obvious one however much of our reading these days is done online instead of the old fashion manner of reading through a magazine or a hard book. If you have the option to choose between ordering a ebook that you can read on a digital device or purchasing a physical hard book then it would be prudent for a person interested in performing a digital detox to purchase a hard version of a book.

Certainly we understand that the option to purchase or obtain material in hard copy version is not always available especially when much of the written literature that we can consume these days is published online only. However, be mindful of the fact that if the option is there to obtain hard copy material then this is usually always a better option to take as opposed to reading your material in digital format.

At the end of the day nothing can quite compare to having the touch and feel of a hard copy book in your hand and being able to flip the pages and have that smell of paper right before you.

One of the main problems with having too much of our written literature on our digital devices is that we find that is another reason why we consume too much digital material and technology therefore we should be mindful of the fact that there is an additional option out there which does not involve digital consumption.

Often many of us find ourselves reading a book or some material just prior to going to bed and certainly if we follow one of the prior digital detox steps of removing all digital devices from the bedroom then this will mean that we are unable to read any material that we have on our digital devices. Obtaining a hard copy of this material or the material that you wish to read will not only help you drift off to sleep reading it in hard version as opposed to a bright screen on a digital device but will also ensure that you keep your digital devices away from the bedroom.

7. Switch to Airplane Mode during workouts

If you go to the gym to workout then I am sure that you would have at some point in time saying people sitting on their smart phones during the middle of their workouts and yes that’s right you guessed it they are more than likely surfing social media, perusing their emails or surfing the Internet.

Once again this is another example of digital technology immersing itself into our lives as an attention diversion and a massive source of procrastination. Too often people in the gym will finish a set of lifting weights or other forms of exercise and turn to their phone when they will begin to simply waste time and take twice as long to finish their usual workout. Not too mention it can become pretty annoying when there are people waiting to use a piece of equipment when the person using the equipment is taking far too long to finish since they are spending half their time on the smart phone. Infuriating for even the most zen of us.

It is important to realize that the primary reason that people have their smart phones on them at the gym is so that they can listen to music, podcasts or audiobooks which can be a great source of entertainment and motivation. But with various other applications and programs available on our smart phones there is always going to be the temptation of diverting our attention away from the workout that we should be focusing on and end up consuming more unimportant digital technology.

So the solution to this is easy, basically all it involves is turning your smart phone onto Airplane Mode which is usually located in your smart phones Settings section. What this will do is it will disable any ability you have to connect your smart phone to the internet or to receive any sort of phone reception.

Ultimately your smart phone will become an MP3 player with the ability to play your music or audiobooks but you will not be able to surf the internet or receive calls or text messages at a time when you want to focus on doing your workout.

Airplane Mode is a great way to reduce the many temptations that your smart phone provides when you are at the gym or anywhere else trying to exercise and workout.

8. Use technology to stop using technology

Set your smart phone alarm telling you to turn device off. With the many functions that our digital smart phone devices have these days certainly one very important use is the alarm clock function.

So why not use your digital devices to remind you to start a digital detox.

Perhaps you want to take one day a week where you completely turn off your digital devices for a whole or half day. But the problem is that it can be very easy to forget to commit to the digital detox so why not set your alarm on your smart phone or tablet letting you know it’s time to turn off digital devices.

We like to view it as turning digital against digital for the purpose of a digital detox.

• Better mental health: By allowing your mind to break away from the constant digital consumption in our lives it will feel more rested and at ease which will ultimately relax and calm the mind.

• Better focus: You should definitely notice that your overall focus and attention improves especially since scientists believe that too much digital consumption can be a factor which promotes Attention Deficit Disorder and other similar behavioural conditions.

• Appreciation of the outdoors: By downing the digital devices people will be more inclined to get involved in outdoor activities which can offer a greater appreciation for the world we live in and generally involves exercise which is healthier for our bodies.

• Better human relationships: When we decide to perform a digital detox we take time out from communicating with others through our digital devices, we find that we have the opportunity to meet up and have more in depth and fulfilling face-to-face conversations with other people. The very much reinvigorates the dying art of human relations, communications and social skills.

• Reduce Procrastination, Increased Productivity: Especially by incorporating the various daily digital detox hacks that we have suggested you will find that you spend less time procrastinating on social media and surfing the internet and more time will be devoted to whatever tasks you have on hand thus increasing your productivity.

• Improve Posture: The human body is also a victim of the digital age since most people tend to sit or slouch when they are consuming digital material, what this does is it leads to poor physical posture. Put simply the human body was not designed to sit at a desk let alone sit or slouch in a rounded or hunched over type of position. Less time on the digital devices will mean less time ruining your posture.

These are just a few of the big benefits that you will see before long should you commit yourself to the digital detoxing steps that we have shown you in this blog post.