The approximate fourteen hours Americans went without TikTok caused many of us to face the reality that our attention spans have been thoroughly shredded.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been more anxious than ever recently; scrolling endlessly, adding to cart, watching what everybody else on my feed is buying and trying.
My phone is filled with thousands of photos and videos I never look at. I’m compelled to consume media I’m not remotely interested in. I see others talk to strangers online like they’re recording in their own personal Password Journal–that everyone has access to.
Online for work, online for my free time, I’ve reached the point where I feel anxious if I haven’t checked my phone in the past half-hour.
It’s time to cut the cord and start a digital detox.
Here’s the plan for a digital detox and a healthier relationship with tech in 2025:
- Printing photos/using a real camera instead of a smartphone
- Low tech hobby for fun, not for profit
- Handwriting letters/journaling
- Attending local events/supporting local groups
- Reading real books again
Printing Photos/Taking Photos On a Camera
Check how many photos/videos are on your camera roll right now.
I’ve got over 35,000–which is the result of YEARS worth of both personal and work photos and videos.
Here’s how we proceed:
First order of business for our digital detox: go through your camera roll and separate all your photos into albums. Once everything is separated, go through each and decide which ones you love, and which you can do without. Upload your favorites to your computer so you have a backup copy, and print out your faves for a scrapbook or to frame them. Once everything is safely uploaded to your computer/hard drive, feel free to delete the ones you never look at from your phone.
In order to keep our camera roll from re-cluttering itself, consider using a real camera aside from the one in your smartphone. Not only will it keep us from wasting precious phone storage, but it also means we can upload the photos directly to our computer/hard drive. And if you want those photos on your phone, they make attachments where you can upload from an SD card to your phone. Digital cameras have made a comeback recently, but you can always use a good old-fashioned film camera like the ever-popular Fujifilm Instax cameras if you want the photos printed instantly. Or, throw it back to the 90s and grab a “disposable” camera that you can use again and again!
Hobbies for Fun, NOT Profit
Too many of us pick up a hobby in an effort to start a digital detox and immediately think “how could I make money off this?”
KNOCK IT OFF.
Have at least one hobby that brings you joy without worrying wether or not it could add to your monthly income. Do it because you enjoy it, not because you could maybe, possibly, monetize it. Figuring out how to make a quick dollar off a hobby is a sure-fire way to turn something you genuinely enjoy into something stress-inducing. Hobbies are meant to help us relax and enjoy our free time. Let work be work and hobbies stay hobbies.
Write More, Type Less
I’ve seen a lot of handwriting over the past year or so on forms filled out for work, and I think we could all use a little handwriting practice (myself included). It’s also incredibly therapeutic to sit down and write out all your thoughts and feelings; to which some people may say “everyone says that, it’s such BS it doesn’t work”, but I am here to report it has actually been quite helpful over the last few months–the physical act of writing combined with the actual realization of what I’m feeling rather than letting it all simmer in the background. I know this part of the digital detox is more difficult considering how tied to technology we are for work and for school, but I promise writing more by hand is worth it.
For those who write for a living or write in their free time, I can also report that writing by hand has lead to more authentic content than when I’d type everything from the get-go. I can’t just hit backspace and delete entire sections, which leads to more consideration in the moment. It also helps that writing with fancy pens and pretty inks fills me with insurmountable joy that I’ve not felt in a LONG time.
If you’re interested in using a fountain pen and ink, this is the pen I bought from Amazon and the ink I use for my everyday writing. I splurged on some fancy ink for my fiction writing (midnight blue with shimmer), the ink is beautiful but be aware it’s a Canada-based brand, so orders under $125 will carry a $25 shipping cost.
Cultivate Community, Support Local
We are simultaneously the most connected and most disconnected we’ve ever been.
We may have internet friends from all over the world just a text or FaceTime away, but we have no idea who our next door neighbors are, or what’s going on in our communities IRL.
So, go see a local band, attend an open mic night, support live local theatre! You truly never know who you might meet, or the exciting experiences that lie in store when you decide to explore what your area has to offer.
Consider volunteering your time with a local organization that supports a cause you care about. Sometimes the best way to see what’s going on in your community is to go out and help where it’s needed. Don’t have the time? Donate your funds where you can. Don’t have either? Donate your voice, let other people know about the wonderful causes in your area that you’re passionate about. This way you can contribute to your community or causes you care about while still committing to your digital detox.
Reading is Fundamental
While we’re at it, let’s start reading physical books again, yeah?
Believe me I’m a Kindle Girl through and through, especially since I can get eBooks from the library on my Kindle (Libby app I will love you forever), but using eBooks means I lose out on the magical moment I tell a loved one “you would love this book, you should read it!” and handing them my own copy of the book to borrow. When you choose to buy a book you’re able to lend it to friends, family, or neighbors, and start your own little lending library, and I think that’s beautiful. What a better way to stick to your digital detox while still enjoying these wonderful stories!
Buying books also doesn’t mean you have to always pay full price, either: thriftbooks is an amazing resource for affordable, gently used books!
We should also look into physical books for a darker reason, one I hate to think about: no one can flip a switch and shut off our access to the physical book, or take the copy from our home and quietly revise it. Yes, we may have purchased the eBook files, but they’re not truly ours.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still use my Kindle when traveling. Books add a lot of weight and take up a lot of room in a personal item as it is, so I will continue to use my Kindle in those instances, especially when used in combination with Libby or Hoopla, in connection with your local library.
Counting the Cost
Now, you may be saying to your screen, “You have no idea what you’re talking about, all of this is too expensive, I don’t need a digital detox, shut the hell up random internet woman!”
Being rich is not a requirement to do any of the things we discussed.
You can clean out the camera roll on your phone for free.
Low-tech hobbies can be low-cost: from reading books from your local library to trying fun activities like Zumba or running at home.
Walmart has notebooks for $1, and you can write or draw with any pens or pencils you’d like.
Libraries have free classes and events every month, and local bars and cafes are likely to have free-to-attend open mic nights and musical performances.
Volunteering for local organizations is free and helps you meet the people in your community.
Living a Low Tech Life
Some of these may feel like impossible tasks, but I promise you, they are achievable. We may have to put a little more time or effort in, but it will be well worth it in the end. Low-tech isn’t the same as no-tech, it’s just using it less where we can in order to help our mental well-being recover. Let’s take back our attention spans and live more intentionally this year.
Looking for more new year’s resolutions? Click here!