DIGIFIT Training Programme
Digifit Training allows you to try various ways to reduce digital strain and the throbbing technological stress. It doesn’t matter if you already have a good grasp of the digital world and use ways to manage it. Try out the Programme, and you may learn something useful about your media use, phone usage habits, social media and perhaps even yourself!
- Think about your personal media use
Is media use evoking positive feelings and joy into your everyday life or miserable feelings and conflicts? Or both? How does media use affect your wellbeing and friendships? Think about your personal media use. - Download an app that monitors usage
Download an app that tracks the usage of various apps on your phone or set up screen time on your phone. Yes, as funny as it sounds, sometimes you need to download new apps to spend less time on your phone! Monitor usage for one week. How many minutes per day did you spend with media? Were all the media moments what you wanted or would you like to give up some moments and do something else instead? - Manage your notification settings
Go through the notification settings of your digital devices (phone, computer, tablet). What notifications do you actually need and want? Leave them on and turn off all the others. For example, do you really need to be notified of each and every message immediately when it arrives? Or could you just read your messages when it suits you best? Which notifications are important to you? Which ones do you want to keep and which ones do you want to get rid of? - Phone away from the bedroom
Make the bedroom a no-phone zone for one week (or, if you only have one room, do not let your phone come on or next to the bed). Charge your phone e.g. in the kitchen for one week. If you want, you could create a special place for your phone there, like a small nest or bed. Did this change affect how well you sleep or calm down? If so, how?
If you cannot do this, do a relaxation exercise before you go to sleep, instead of grabbing your phone. - Get an alarm clock!
If you are used to setting the alarm on your phone and therefore always keep your phone next to you even when you sleep, get an alarm clock. After one week, see if you got out of bed quicker, used the snooze function less or whether there were any other changes. - Avoid using your phone in situations where you would normally take it out
When you are waiting for a bus, driving a car or otherwise bored, challenge yourself to be without your phone. What else could you do? - Digital-free zone
Does your phone easily creep in with you when you go to the toilet, brush your teeth or eat meals? Think about situations where you could establish a digital-free zone. Make a change in your everyday life. - Digital interruptions
Observe how many times a day you interrupt what you are doing to check your mobile phone. What are these situations like? Also, think about what was on your phone. Was the interruption and checking it necessary? - Social media detox
What are your favourite social media channels? Which social media channel do you spend the most time on? Try turning this channel (WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok…) off for two days, from Friday evening to Sunday evening for instance.
– What happened?
– How did it feel?
– Was it particularly hard or easy in some situation?
– Did you miss something that you would have liked to see? - Netflix and chill
Or how about replacing one episode of a series with some exercise and outdoor activities? Think about why it is so easy to end up watching Netflix for a long time. Could you do something about it? - Eliminate unnecessary messages
Do you get a lot of unnecessary messages in your social media platforms? Stop and think about your way of sending and receiving messages. Eliminate any unnecessary messages and think about the effects of this on your social media feed. - Digital stress
Think about the things that cause you digital stress. What could you do about these things? Make a change related to something that causes you digital stress and think about and analyse the effects. - Full detox
Do a full (or as full as possible) phone, computer and tablet detox for one day: answer only the most important messages and phone calls, but otherwise do not touch your devices. Do this from e.g. Friday evening to Saturday evening.
– What happened?
– How did it feel?
– Was it particularly hard or easy in some situation?
– Did you miss something that you would have liked to see? - Digital day
Have a digital day (like a candy day). Browse your social media and post things, play games and spend time on your phone to your heart’s content (and as much as your parents will let you). Balance this by turning off your phone, games and social media completely on the following day. Record what you did on both days and how it felt. What elements of each day would you like to have in your life?