I love and support the Global Day of Unplugging initiative and encourage you to explore their blog which is loaded with helpful information around Digital Wellness. Click on this image to be directed to it.

The U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory calling attention to the growing epidemic of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection. Devices and social media are doing more harm than good, especially for the younger generations. Just like Earth Day protects the environment, Global Day of Unplugging,  preserves the human spirit! It’s a digital wellbeing movement that helps clean up our inner worlds.

If it’s unrealistic for you to “unplug” this Friday, on Global Day of Unplugging, I encourage you to consider actually picking up your phone and diving into your screentime limitation settings and/or your Do Not Disturb settings. Allow your phone to have the settings that align with how you feel about screentime usage, and utilize the Do Not Disturb settings at different parts of your day to experience less interruptions. By setting these boundaries you will create more screen free time (aka life) and will have more efficient days! Poke around and explore these settings not only in your phone, but also on your social media apps (they have their own settings, which is great!).

And while you’re at it, take this time to figure out what apps and social media sites are working for you and why. You may be surprised at how many apps you’re not utilizing on your phone that you can clear away. Or you may notice that after you spend time scrolling on a certain platform you put your phone down feeling inadequate (I use this as an example because that’s what social media usually does to me!). I’m particularly fed up with being constantly sold to as soon as I hop onto social media. It seems that every other post is another sell. It’s so easy to be looped in by the reels from influencers, and it’s exhausting!

Our phones have become a part of us, essentially another appendage of ours that we can’t be without. If that’s how it’s going to be, it’s important to create healthy boundaries around it. Be mindful of how often you pick your phone up, and start asking yourself if it’s truly necessary. Most of us use our phones to pacify the time. Instead of embracing down time (which used to give us the time and space to daydream, process things in our lives, think things out, etc.), we pick up our phones and are distracted by all that is in the palm of our hands.

I particularly do not want to live most of my life looking down at a screen (that’s damaging my eyes and posture), at images that are harming my mental health, and that are making me spend more money! I am choosing to lead by example and use my phone as needed, as a tool that works for me (instead of against me). I want to model healthy phone/device behavior for my children. I want to remain connected and utilize my phone and all of it’s incredible capabilities, but in a conscious, mindful way. I hope that you consider this, too.