Do you need a digital detox?

In business, as well as in our personal lives, we have become reliant on our digital friends. We couldn’t bare to think about leaving the house without our smart phone or entering a meeting without our laptop – and with good reason too, these devices have changed the way we live and work.

Our professional lives have started to creep into our personal lives more and more often. It’s so easy just ‘to do a few emails’ at the weekend or stay up whilst all your family are asleep finishing an important project. But as these acts are becoming more normal and deemed necessary to succeed…do we need a digital detox?

If your answer to that question was a big ‘YES!’ then here are some helpful tips to help you along…

Separate your calls

If you’re business and personal calls are going through to the same phone – change it! To help detox your life from constantly answering and dealing with calls, be able to switch your work phone off when you have indeed finished work. After that, it’s only personal calls that you need to worry about.

Pen and paper – get back to basics!

Staring at our computer screens all day can not only mess with our eyes and back but can cause RSI and headaches. For a few hours everyday try just switching the computer off and doing your work on pen and paper. Detaching yourself from email checking and doing a million things at once and doing it the old way will help you focus on your one task – and you never know, you might find you work more efficiently!

Social media email settings

We all know the annoying feeling of having a full inbox. But when those emails consist of Twitter with a notification, it’s unnecessary and distracting to your work flow. Change your social media settings so that you’re not interrupted every 2 minutes by incoming notifications. This way your priority is on those important emails that need attention and you’re free to handle social media when you like – at a convenient time for you. If you want to go that bit further, filter your inbox so all emails from social media (like Twitter) are automatically put into a specific folder without even bothering you!

So, even though we’re already into in to the year – how about a digital detox for your New Years resolution? Good luck!