Time for a Digital Detox?

Christine Wittoeck is founder and CEO of the Digital Detox Academy. Fascinated by behavior and behavioral change, Christine considers it her mission to create awareness about the fact that we control our own behavior! Specifically she wants to make us aware of the fact that we have the power to control our own behavior when it comes to digital tools. If you'd like to discover more on Christine Wittoeck, feel free to visit the Digital Detox Academy website.

Christine's mission during this session wasn't to scold our members on their possible Digital Addiction. Besides asking them to shut down their smartphones during the presentation (a real feat for our members!), her main message was that every person should take a look in the mirror and decide for themselves if their usage of digital tools exceeds what they want or not. In doing this she wants to create awareness to the fact that there are some alternatives to what we use our devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones etc.) for.

In today's society it's not Christine's intent to completely get rid off laptops, tablets & smartphones. That's not only impossible but utterly useless because these are in fact, great tools that can help us improve our lives. She rather went on to give us tips & tricks on how we can manage these tools (and more importantly ourselves) so that we control them instead of the other way around.

1. Respect Email Etiquette

In every organisation it's important to communicate about HOW you communicate internally (and externally). There are a few tips you can use to facilitate your email communication:

• Keep it short
• Carefully choose your "To:" and "CC:"
• Include important info in your subject line
• Don't reply-all

2. Shut down your alerts visually ànd auditively

It's important to be able to choose what info you want coming in. If you get an alert for every little update your digital device will work more as a distraction/stress creator rather than an aid to your productivity.

3. Eliminate interferences

Try to focus on one task at a time and don't be afraid to seclude yourself for a short period of time in order to complete your work. However, it's important to communicate about this with your colleagues because you not responding immediately to someone's message might create stress from their part.

4. Buy an alarmclock

When you're woken up by your smartphone's alarm you automatically get sucked in by notifications, messages, other alerts etc. and this results in you having stress from the moment you wake up. Use an alarmclock to

• take the time to wake up
• stop using your digital device before you go to sleep and be able to relax more

5. Plan your (own) time

• Be sure to take a break now and then to relax your mind & don't skip a lunch break
• Plan moments in the day to answer your emails (communicate about communication!)
• Reserve time in the week to complete little chores that might get overlooked otherwise.