Time away from our screens and devices is incredibly important, even though it might surprise you to hear it from a social media agency!

Common examples include managing notifications, reading books or magazines, or *shock horror*, meeting humans IRL.

Interestingly, the social media platforms have jumped on the need for promoting better usage of their own channels (they can do some good!), with Instagram allowing users to set time limits; and the hashtag #digitalreststop also trended on TikTok which allowed brands and creators to break ordinary programming with calming, soothing content.

We asked our team what their proactive digital detox tips or activities are when they need to switch off.

Sophie: Every morning, I try to go for a walk without listening to anything and enjoy being unplugged for as long as possible before the work day. I tend to listen to music or podcasts throughout the day, and use my AirPods for virtual meetings. I decided the morning was the best time to give my ears/mind a break, and it’s much nicer listening to nature sounds.

Keely: I like to read on my lunch break and on my commute to/from work to break up my screen usage.

Tom: Turn your phone to black and white colour screen. Everything becomes less interesting/exciting. Learn how to do it here.

Pen: Listening to records and painting. It also gets your step count up having to constantly turn them over!

Kirsty: I will sometimes delete the Instagram app to have a break over a weekend! I might last a day, haha.

Ange: The thing that made the biggest difference for me was replacing the habit with a better one. In this case, reading a book instead! Turning off notifications helps. No devices for an hour before bedtime so your body winds down properly.

Faith: I have an app timer function set from 10pm-7am every day so I can't access anything social.

Laura: I have turned off notifications, particularly for Instagram. If I am not receiving a notification, then I'm not tempted to open the app and start scrolling. I was finding whenever I posted, the notifications were encouraging me to mindlessly scroll and I find it really impacts my mental health.

Jess: I charge my phone overnight in the next room.

Adele: No mobiles during dinner so we chat. I also pause wifi/data services to everything on my Optus app so I have no distractions during the week.

Lucy: I also charge my phone overnight in another room.

We’d love to know your digital detox tips! Let us know yours in the comments below.