I recently chatted with a friend about the craziness of our world these days. She said the crazies are those that can adapt to this, not the ones that can’t.

What? OMG. YES! Hallelujah, she seemed to say the one thing that I couldn’t put words to. If you are not adapting and coping with the fast paced, nanosecond and chaotic world we are living in right now, then YOU are normal!

The digital age, and more specifically our cell phones, are a necessity that we can’t live without. The cell phone has become an extension of our hand. How many times have you left the house without it, only to get to the end of the street, realize you don’t have it and in an absolute panic (screaming some choice words) drive back to the house like a lunatic! The good news is, that with a bit of mindfulness and awareness, we can start taking control of it versus it controlling us.

Most of us are feeling overwhelmed, bombarded, assaulted by the pace and pressure of life. Studies are s howing over and over again that we are feeling worn out by the amount of news and information we receive.

How to buffer yourself from the age of digital overload – a mindful approach! Our brains are forced now to cope with non-stop communication and hundreds of daily decisions. On average, we now take in 100,000 plus words a day. We’re consuming more information than we can process and it’s setting off a fight/flight response that makes us feel overwhelmed. Most of us check our phones within 15 minutes of waking up, if not immediately when we open our eyes. Statistics show that we get an average of 121 emails every day and between 52-77 text messages (this goes up to 128 texts for younger age groups).

Here are some tips for Digital Detox!

Tip #1 – Do not check your email until 45 minutes after you have awoken. When you check email as soon as you awaken, your day is started off with what others want or need from you and not what you need and want.

Tip #2 – Delete distracting apps. We are so used to checking a certain number of apps when we look at our phone. Our fingers just randomly open up our emails, Facebook, Instagram, Linkdn. So, let’s bring some mindfulness to making choices about our apps. There are those apps that we can’t live without, mine is Waze. One solution is to cluster your apps into one so that you don’t even open up the cluster of apps, but better yet, just delete it!

Tip #3 - Turn off notifications. Constant updates on what’s happening in the world is informative, but distracting. Many apps also have built in to them notifications just to get you lured back on to their site. Why fall for this? These constant notifications are a source of repeated interruption that take us away from what we were doing, or feeling, or enjoying and take our attention sometimes without our control to something altogether different. So consider turning off all notification.

Tip #4 – Put the phone on airplane mode. Sometimes even when you’re not on a plane, try putting your phone on airplane mode. When trying to complete a task, or doing your charts, or reading a journal, a book, enjoying time with your kids, give yourself a phone break. Allow yourself 30 minutes of calm without the phone right beside you buzzing all the time.

Tip #5 – Convert to black and white. One reason why our devices are so alluring is they are vibrant. Many smartphones now allow you to change your entire phone to a gray scale. Try it, you won’t want to go on it as much, I promise.

Tip #6 – Make all meals digital free. Period!

Tip #7 – Stick to one screen. If you are watching Netflix on TV and you start scrolling through your phone, your brain goes crazy. This multitasking has actually been shown to be bad for us. It actually takes several minutes to recalibrate the brain between tasks, so not only is this distracting, it also actually makes us less efficient and less smart over time!

Tip #8 – Give your body a break. It is estimated that we spend half of our waking hours staring at a screen. Our bodies are paying the price. Long periods of staring down at our phones are creating neck pain and pinched nerves. Digital eye strain is also creating dryness, blurred vision and headaches. So do your body a favour and have less phone time!

Don't worry about implementing all of these. Just pick two that you can manage and you can add more tips as time goes one!

KEEP CALM AND DETOX ON!