‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house nothing was stirring ….except for the swoosh of the ipad as Dad scrolled his facebook feed, the tapping of a iphone as Mum answered an email and the squeals from children nestled in their bedrooms playing Fortnite…
Is the grinch that stole Christmas in the palm of your hand? Is Christmas time the one time of the year that you should be more present with your family and friends. How about using Christmas for a digital detox.
Christmas Digital Detox
Here are three levels of digital detox that you can try over Christmas, from the office avoidance to the complete cold turkey.
Level 1: Offline from the Office
Remember those days when it was possible to go somewhere that didn’t have good cellphone reception or Wi-Fi. You were simply offline and out of reach for anything except emergency call. For those days it was possible to completely disconnect from work. Try for 2-3 days over Christmas to not look at any work emails and resist temptation by turning off your email notifications.
- a. Go into Settings and scroll down to Mail
- b. Select and go to Notifications
- c. Turnoff Allow Notifications. Now the little red number won’t show up on you front screen
If there is a real emergency then someone will call or text you!
Level 2: Digital Disengagement
If you’d like to spend less time on your phone over Christmas but you feel twitchy without people being able to reach you then it’s time to do the time warp. Make your smartphone as uninteresting as phone from 20-years ago (without the weight).
I guess you’re worried that I might suggest uninstalling all your apps. But in fact it is much easier than that
- Go to Settings and in second group choose Do Not Disturb
- Turn Do Not Disturb on
- Scroll down to Allow Calls From. Decide who can still phone you – everyone, favourites, contacts
Level 3: Going Cold Turkey
Try enjoying your Christmas turkey dinner and the cold leftovers without your phone by your side. This requires strong willpower, just like a complete withdrawal from smoking, drinking or drugs. To avoid temptation enlist the help of a trusted friend
- Switch off your phone.
- Find a locked box or cupboard and lock your phone there
- Give the key to someone and ask them not to give it back to you even if you beg them for an agreed time period.
Give the Gift of Attention
Christmas is a time for giving, but is giving all about gift. In a busy world with such limited time give the gift of your time and attention to your loved ones. Open up real conversation with the people nearest and dearest to you, not a snap chat or message to your FB followers.
