straight-forward digital>analog swaps

you don't have to go cold-turkey on technology to make a real change

The struggle we endure with our modern world is, well, that it’s tech-centric. Your smartphone, the internet, technology — they are all a part of nearly every touch point of your day. When people try to take a step back from the digital world, it can feel insurmountable. It’s not as simple as just leaving your phone in a box for a week.

But if you chip away at it, if you make small changes one-at-a-time, you might find you can shift your life to be more real-world-centric instead.

Take a look at this list. Challenge yourself to do just one of these things. It’s okay if it feels uncomfortable. Growth requires friction, it’s time to create a little in your life.

digital > analog swaps

The alarm on your smartphone is innocuous enough. That is, until you take a step back and watch how the habit plays out.

Your alarm clock goes off, you hit snooze a couple times, you finally open your eyes to turn the alarm off, and your phone is in your hand. Now what do you do?

You look to see if you got any notifications over night.

You check your email.

You do a quick social media scroll.

You open the news app.

Before you know it, you’ve just spent the first thirty minutes of your day in a dopamine loop.

If this sounds eerily familiar, this might be the best swap for you.

You can go super simple, get fancy with a sunrise alarm clock, or try my personal favorite. Number one tip for the transition? Keep your phone plugged in overnight in another room.

If you love to read, please start with this. It’s so so easy to swap this habit if you already love to read. My first full year switching scrolling for social, I read nearly 75 books. I’m a book glutton.

If you aren’t an avid book reader, this one might illicit an eye roll out of you. When you’ve spent years of your life consuming short form content, the focus and attention required to read a book might feel daunting. But let me urge you to try anyways.

Here’s why. I had the coolest realization the other day when I was reading (my 10th book so far this year): The more books you read, the more stories and lives you get immersed in, the more you see how much life can be lived off the Internet. You won’t read a novel where the protagonist spends all day scrolling on their phone. It’s inspiring.

The reverse of this is a bit bleaker. The more time you spend scrolling, the more time you think you need to be scrolling. It’s a fallacy.

The Fear Of Missing Out fallacy

Start small. Read a chapter at a time. Try short stories. Always choose something you want to read, not something that you think you should read (classics aren’t for everyone! That’s ok!).

The absolute best part about picking up reading: it can be FREE. Go to the library, check out books, utilize Libby, find Little Free Libraries, borrow books from friends and neighbors. The options are endless.

Over half of Americans get their news from social media. If you’re here, I probably don’t need to wax on about the glaring problems with that statistic, but I’ll give you the top line anyways.

When we only consume the news on social media, it is impossible to get the full picture of the true story. We are reading headlines and snippets, watching short clips, getting out of context content, and all of this is being targeted to you by some type of algorithm designed to take advantage of you.

I understand the pull. Social media is instant. It’s often to-the-point. It feels like you’re discussing the news with a community. When you don’t know how to feel about something, social media guides you how to feel (red flag btw).

I urge you to resist. Bring that statistic down in America. Read the newspaper or subscribe to a trusted news source. I know this can feel like a financial burden, but most libraries can provide all of these things for *free.*

Our brains are not designed to handle the onslaught of news the way we are consuming. Do your nervous system and your brain a favor, and kick your social news habit for good.

There are plenty of reasons why people are choosing to leaving streaming platforms. From company ethics to ownership concerns, there’s been a surge of folks choosing to step away from Spotify and Apple Music. It’s also a big opportunity to untether yourself from your smartphone.

It sound silly, but I’ve recently started putting the radio on exclusively on car rides with my kids. I expected a big objection (the commercials! the inability to play Golden on repeat!), but they rarely complain. We support our local radio stations, we get exposure to new music, and we aren’t feeling handcuffed to the streaming services.

I’m also in the market for a good mp3 player for my kids. Right now, they have a Yoto and some music cards, but as they get a little older, I think a mp3 player will be a more realistic solution. It’s good to foster music exploration in kids, but do I think they need to have access to every song at any time? Maybe not.

I saw a post recently where someone was lamenting they wanted to quit Facebook, but that’s how they chat with their family.

Yall. Stop relying on Meta to chat with people. Use your phone as a phone!

Text if you must, but better yet, call! FaceTime! See people in person more! Write hand written letters! Email!

This one is so, so easy.

Look, you can copy and paste this on all your social media group threads if you must:

“Hey! I can’t keep up with DMs anymore. Can we move this to a text thread? If not, cool, but you can reach me on my phone if you need me. I’m going to stop checking here daily.”

Then, start taking the initiative yourself. You can’t expect everyone to quit with you, but you can inspire them by being consistent. By showing up.

Online shopping has completely transformed the economy and our way of life. As a parent to three littles, I often wonder how parents of yore (lol jk) went grocery shopping weekly IN PERSON!

But recently, I realized my over-reliance on online shopping was preventing me from getting out in our community, from teaching my kids about simple life skills, from supporting local small businesses.

I still get groceries delivered but I do aim to shop for anything else in person. Not only is this great for the above mention things, I’m saving money. There are less impulse buys, no shipping costs, and best of all, no boxes crowding my garage.

As long as you have a smartphone, you’ll likely always utilize the camera that comes with it. Why not? It’s a gift. We are so lucky to capture so many moments of our life, to b able to look back at memories that we may have otherwise forgotten.

But when we are overly consumed with “getting the shot” or capturing every single second of every single event....it’s time to take a step back.

The sweet part of having a separate camera is you have some freedom. Put your phone away at an event, but still capture some great moments. And there’s less pressure on getting the perfect angle. There’s no perfect shot other than the one you got.

Camp Snap camera is a great option or just plain ole disposable (this one sends you digitals too). I love Instax, but since the film is a little pricey, I reserve it for holidays and birthdays.

Swap your Candy Crush addiction for some IRL board games. No one to play games with? Start playing physical solitaire or pick up a sudoku or crossword book (also good for on-the-go).

Puzzles can also scratch the itch. These are also all great alternatives to your doom scrolling habit and will do wonders for your focus and attention.

Do you need to make a bigger change? Okay, I have big news that I’m burying here because I don’t want to spam everyone with a big flashy announcement.

Over the last month, I’ve been quietly adding content to the digital detox course. What started out as a simple email course, now contains 35-days of content, including video and new downloadable resources. I’ve more than tripled the amount of resources to help you break your habits for good.

I’ve kept the price the same for now because, why not! I want to help you reshape your relationship with technology. It’s hard work but you can do it. I hope you’ll try it out.