the best place to start is your screen time if your on an iphone, or digital wellbeing on android.

grab a journal or some post it notes to write down your answers to the following prompts:

• What does your screen time look like?

• What do you wish it looked like?

When you feel ready to plan your social media fast, take a quick moment to commit for yourself:

• I will quit ____ app for ____ number of days (minimum of 3 days, maximum of a month, but you could go longer!)

• In its place I will connect with _____ (consider what you want from your phone. what made you buy it? how would you like it to support and serve you rather than distract you?)

• I will reach out to the people I usually stay in touch with here to stay connected elsewhere plan phone calls, dinner parties, zoom rooms, day hikes and craft nights.

• My goal with doing this is to get back into ____ (this could be sketch-booking, knitting, sewing, puzzles, writing a dnd campaign, hiking, knitting pouring candles for holiday gifts etc.)

Once you have these written down, I recommend inviting a friend to do this with you. Preferably someone you connect with on a regular basis. I was chatting with the folks in the hikers way over on discord through this whole experience, and you can join us in that self-guided pod class anytime! version 2.0 is out now, more info below.do y

TO BETTER TRACK YOUR EXPERIENCE, REFLECT ON THE THINGS YOU’VE BEEN AVOIDING:

• What things do you genuinely wish you could get done?

• What things do you wish you had “more time” for?

• Are there friends you’ve lost touch with you could reconnect with?

• Was there a hobby that you used to have (and still have all the stuff for, hiding in a closet somewhere) that you want to reconnect with?

• Do you wish you had time to be creative?

NOW LET’S RETURN TO THE INTENTION YOU HAD WHEN YOU GOT YOUR PHONE IN THE FIRST PLACE:

In this era so many people want to buy a dumb phone or a flip phone or some other consumer electronic device to fix the pull of our phone. I want to hook you into using the device for good, not evil.

• why did you get your phone in the first place? was it the camera?

  • you should go to your local trail and take some pictures!

• was it the ability to start filming videos for short films you wanna make?

  • spend some time during your break collecting images in a folder for shot types and write an outline of a script

• was it to make texting your friends easier with a bigger keyboard?

  • can you plan a gathering, virtual or in person, with people who allow you to be yourself without your guard up?

Now make a list of the apps that help you feel creative or empowered.

For me thats notes, voice memos, and garageband. ever since starting my break I have been diving into what it means to cultivate a digital garden and put all of the ideas i collect out in hikes when I’m spending time in nature to turn into ideas for this channel or essays i wanna write.

AS YOU MOVE THROUGH THIS PERIOD, NOTE THE CHALLENGES, MISSTEPS AND FAILURES THAT COME UP.

those are part of the process!

For me, I was regularly typing YouTube.com into the browser of my Mac to find I was locked out, or looking for the Tiktok app on my phone screen when I was tired in the evening looking for a quick fix of video novelty and funny magic. Whatever that is for you, hold yourself tenderly as you move through this and remember the reasons why you wanted to get away for awhile in the first place.

thank you for reading and watching. I hope you found this helpful.

If you did, consider buying me a coffee below