Last week, I told y’all I was doing a digital detox.

Day 1 was AMAZING. I locked my apps before bed. Slept incredibly. Didn’t check emails until after 12:30pm. Didn’t check texts until 2:45pm. Followed my time blocks. Only watched my designated tv. Maximum productivity.

On Tuesday, I was still pretty good about not checking inbox and texts until the afternoon, but I deleted all the time buckets from my calendar because they felt too stifling. I watched an extra episode of Vanderpump Villa. Overall, not too bad for a girl with no discipline…

But then there was Wednesday…

I had a bit of a disregulating morning that left me frazzled for the rest of the day. That marked the end of my tv boundaries for the rest of the week. I didn’t lock my apps before bed for the rest of the week either.

Then I started my period, so all bets were off. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday binge watching Made in Chelsea for 100th time (it just came back to Hulu in the U.S., thank mother god).

👼 Baby Wins

The week wasn’t a total bust.

• I went for two quiet walks (phone on Do Not Disturb, no music or podcasts or headphones)

• I went for one 20-minute quiet car ride

• I started Pilates again after a four-year “break”

• I made a small breakthrough on a project I’m working on (finally landed on a format for something I’m launching this fall)

• I noticed when I was clinging to my phone or tv to cope with big feelings instead of to relax/enjoy (and did my best to reconsider partaking when it felt like the former)

• I didn’t completely quit the detox when I messed up. I did my best to continue some of my detox habits even when I failed other ones.

• I practiced tap way more than I usually do (I even made a fun bingo game out of it to keep me motivated)
  

  

• My average screen time per day went down by 8% and my average phone pickups per day went down by 10% (the spikes on Thurs & Fri were almost solely because of the Summer House reunion/leak lol)

👀 What I noticed:

• Annoyingly, I do sleep so much better when I limit my screen time before bed. So I set up a Rest schedule using my Loftie to help me limit phone usage at night.
  
  (P.S. I’ve had my Loftie alarm clock since 2021 and it’s probably the best ‘sleep investment’ I’ve made in my adult life.)

• I have way too much stuff coming into my inbox and it stressed me tf out. I think it’s time for some unsubscribing/filtering.

• Starting the day with silence is so needed for my nervous system. I think I’m going to continue avoiding music and podcasts and stuff until later in the day.

• I can still be “disciplined” (hate that word) without being overly-structured. I think I had far too many rules for my detox to sustainably follow through on everything. Keeping things intentional but loose will ultimately be the way forward for me.

• Just because I’m not on social media anymore doesn’t mean I don’t have issues. In a lot of ways, I’ve replaced scrolling on Instagram with equivalently unhealthy habits.

So, I guess I didn’t actually fail my digital detox (#clickbait). I learned a lot about myself and what my habits look like when I’m on auto-pilot.

Peace, love and workflows,

Andrea