4 Weeks to Digital Balance
Exploring an Intervention to support Greater Focus, Productivity and a Sense of Achievement - A personal account of my Experiences
For 4 weeks I tried a digital balance routine to help me improve my focus and productivity, break the habit of mindless scrolling and rebuild healthier sleep routines.
Why I explored this intervention
It took a stormy night and a failed internet connection for me to recognise, I was developing a digital dependency.
Since using social media as a tool for work, I had been feeling as though I was online too much and was finding myself getting distracted from work I needed to do. I was experiencing feelings of guilt over wasting time during the day and not being productive enough. This was causing me to compensate by working in the evenings, impacting my sleep and energy levels and leaving me with a sense of a lack of accomplishment.
Then a stormy night hit and my streaming service dropped out, so I decided to embrace a digital free evening. Settling in for a tranquil evening with a book, a warm tea and a cosy blanket, tranquility quickly became a pipe dream. I started irritating myself as I noticed, I was re-reading the same sentences and paragraphs over and over again, unable to focus on the words in front of me and I kept catching myself reaching for my phone every few minutes.
Frustrated, I knew something needed to change. A complete digital detox was not realistic for me at that time but making intentional choices to reclaim my time and energy absolutely was. That sparked a 4-week intervention to regain digital balance.
Application
I knew I could use technology to help rather than hinder me, so I set out to redefine how I used it. My approach to this intervention included:
Completing a digital audit. Identifying my pain points (Instagram and TikTok), problematic times (early mornings, 10am-2pm and pre-sleep) and tools which could help me (phone/app settings).
Configuring 'work' and 'sleep' modes on my phone, to automatically restrict notifications and app access between certain times.
Implementing time-blocking in my calendar, setting blocks of time for specific work. E.g. 9-10am for social media tasks, 10am-1pm for client calls, admin, adhoc, and 2-4pm for deep work.
Environmental design. Addressing visibility issues to make my desired habits more visible (e.g. putting a book on my bed in the evenings) and removing/restricting visual cues to unhelpful habits (placing phone out of sight whilst working). At the start of the intervention, I also cleared my desk of unnecessary distractions and kept in sight a list of 3 must do tasks which I would tick off each day.
Rebuilding the ability to focus for long periods. I used the timer on my laptop to help me improve my ability to focus. Starting with 10-minutes on the clock, I would focus for until the timer went off and then allowed myself a short break before the next 10mins would be set. Gradually increasing the length of time as the intervention went on.
My experience and observations
Reflecting on my experiences, I noted the below:
Week 1: I learnt a lot during this week and quickly realised, I needed to adjust my initial plans. At first, I thought configuring blocking problematic apps would be sufficient for me to break the bad habits and settle into focus work. But I quickly found myself habitually reaching for my phone, even without the audio cue of a new notification. This is when I added into the plan, putting my phone out of sight and away from the desk, so I would need to put in additional effort to use it.
I also discovered I had overestimated my ability to complete ‘focus work’. I had blocked 2 hours in my diary, but this did not match my current level of ability, and I would struggle to focus for even a short period at first. Realising I had set an unrealistic goal and that I would have to re-build this skill, I introduced the use of the timer. By the end of the week I had increased my focus blocks and found I had been surprisingly productive, often working past 4pm without noticing, yet not so late into the evening as the weeks before.
Week 2: Off the back of this progress, I entered week 2 confidently. This confidence took a hit as the week rolled on. Focus became challenging again, and I caught myself trying to sneak in extra screen time, turning off ‘work mode’ and keeping the phone close to me on the desk again.
Feelings of guilt and frustration were by my side this week and I was close to giving into those feelings, and the intervention itself. Not wanting to let myself down and reminding myself it was only for another 2-3 weeks I persevered, reminding myself change takes patience and grace, as well as time.
Week 3: I was turning off work mode a lot less and only when needed for a work task. Some of the new habits were beginning to stick, whilst others had fallen to the side. I would forget to set the timer to focus, yet I was focussing for larger periods of time and whilst not perfect, I was happy with my progress.
Another adjustment to the initial plan came this week, as I found I was not reading in the evenings as much as I would like. This was a goal I had set myself to reduce the use of my phone just before sleep and build healthier evening routines. Instead of forcing myself to do all the things I initially set out to achieve, I decided to focus on the key issue, addressing the feelings of productivity during the day and improving focus. I would seek to support better sleep and reading habits another time.
Week 4: This week I noticed my boredom levels had decreased. This wasn’t something I had factored into my plans before and whilst I wasn’t doing anything exciting or different, I was finding the tasks I needed to do less irritating, as I was gaining a sense of satisfaction from completing them. This was a bonus reward for me.
I also recognised I already had ways of working which also supported productivity and focus, including changing my environment and working from a coffee shop. The ambient noise and activity actually helped me to focus, naturally enhancing my productivity. This was something I could use more intentionally within my routine going forward.
My thoughts
The steps within this intervention helped me significantly improve my ability to focus for longer periods and I have maintained the mode settings on my phone.
Narrowing my goals and expectations helped me address the key problematic areas and achieve the important outcomes I wanted.
As the improvements came, it created a positive feedback loop: better focus led to high productivity, a greater sense of accomplishment, in turn motivating me to maintain the new practices and re-frame them as a pro, rather than a punishment.
Actionable takeaways
If you’re looking to build a digital balance routine, whether within your professional or personal settings, my key takeaways from this intervention include:
Meet yourself where you’re at. If something isn’t working, adapt your approach instead of battling against it. E.g. I overestimated my ability to focus and removed additional goals of reading at night, to ensure I targeted what mattered most.
Aim for progress over perfection. An intervention is designed to support growth, not achieve perfection levels. Don’t forget to recognise the wins along the way, whether small or large and as you gain momentum, you can adjust to achieve further gains if needed.
Leverage technology. Whilst it can be distracting, technology can also support us. Find tools that help you rather than hinder you. E.g. for this intervention I used a timer and ‘mode’ settings, but I have also re-set system settings within applications such as Outlook and Teams, to reduce/remove the distractions and re-gain balance.
Create space between the stimulus and your reaction. I found using the ‘mode’ setting on the phone instead of in-app wellbeing settings to be a lot more effective, as they create space and time for to consider your next action. Mindless scrolling became harder as they automatically blocked certain apps and created additional actions, I would have to take to re-gain access to them. This gave me enough time to think about what I was doing, helping me to break a bad habit.
For broader wellbeing goals, you could also consider using apps which monitor your mood or help you track and monitor new habits.