Creating Tech-Free Zones at Home: A Guide to Digital Detox

(SPOT.ph) Living in the city seems to get noiser by the day. Wherever you go, there is some sort of noise—whether it's from cars, buses, trains, someone obnoxiously scrolling through loud clips on their phone on the commute, people yelling at each other on the street, or the ads on loop that seem to reach you wherever you are.

And yes, the noise does bleed into the mind. I can't be the only one who can't seem to turn off my brain, with thoughts whirling around from one thing to the the next all in the span of minutes.

It's certainly no help that our perpetually online world is affecting our ability to concentrate. Several studies have shown that the rise of the Internet may "potentially interfere with sustained attention," or in other words, the more we're on the Internet, the shorter our attention span may become. You can see it the way our songs are getting shorter, shortform videos have become the main social media currency, and, as seen by this SPOT.ph writer, less and less people are willing to read long articles. That's not to say I'm not guilty of it either; I haven't been able to read a book in years, even series and movies take too long, and I'm not immune to the empty comforts of the endless scroll.

So on a quest to quiet my mind, I set out to "unplug." I know the term has become overused at this point, now feeling like yet another trendy concept—but there are concrete, practical ways to do it, such as setting physical tech-free zones at home. I know you might think it as easy as putting your phone away, but with the way our brains have been wired, it took me a whole lot of will power to stay, quite literally, unplugged. I lay down below how I did it.

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Why should you create tech-free zones?

Internet and technology has helped us in many ways, making it easy to do things, and also making it possible to do so many things at once. This means no day passes that you don't use or interact in one way or another with some form of screen, doing multiple things at once. How many tabs do you have open right now? And can you remember the last time you spent a whole day without using the Internet? Neither can I.

Creating a physical space where I went to unplug, literally, and do something (or nothing) offline helped me tune back into a world without Internet (i.e. that so-called "real world"). Arguably the hardest part for me about going tech-free even for a little while was coming to terms with how my mind had nothing to fidget with, there was no endless entertainment pouring in from the screen, no quick content to distract me from my own thoughts; it was me finding comfort in my own mind—and understanding that no, I was not missing out on anything. When I went back on my phone after whatever offline activity, the Internet was still there, moving in as fast a pace as it always does, and I was okay to let those things slip by. 

Allowing yourself the time and space to disconnect is one way to realign your thoughts, goals, wants, and in general, lessen all the noise and replace it with something healthier. If you've become so used to thinking a thousand thoughts at once, exposed to all the buzz and visuals of today's worlds, it can be hard to accept the silence, I get it. You can think of this as a way to relearn connection, only this time, to the offline world around us.

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Practical steps for creating a tech-free zone at home

1. Identify a physical space

The first step is to identify a space, or spaces, in your home that you want to designate as a tech-free zone, i.e. an area where gadgets are not allowed. Depending on your home's setup and the lifestyles of the people you live with, this space can be your own permanent area, or a shared area that is only tech-free at certain times, or any other type of mix. That means it can range from a designated hobby desk that you intentionally never use your gadgets on, or you put in a rule that nobody can use their phones during meals at the dining table, a reading nook, and whatnot.

The best part about this tech-free zone is that it's your space. You can be as flexible or as rigid about the boundaries as you like, so long as you stick to the tenet of not using gadgets or going online while in that space.

2. Remove all gadgets and temptations

Once you've chosen your tech-free zone, ensure that you remove all gadgets in the area. This will help especially if self-control isn't your strong point; best to be preemptive and get rid of any temptation. If this zone is typically where you charge your phone or tablet, then decide on a new charging area away from it. Keep it in your mind that this area should be free of gadgets at all time to be able to keep that mental zoning in your head, too.

Plus, the farther away the tech-free zone is from your TV, computer, charging ports, gaming setup, and whatever else in that vein, the better. Or at the very least, make sure that these gadgets are not in your line of sight when in your tech-free zone.

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3. Transform the area

Now this step is where you have to be truly intentional. Making yourself focus on one task will help to drown out all the noise, or the urge to multi-task—and admittedly, finding that one task that fills your mind will take trial and error. You can try bringing back old hobbies that you had, or find a book to read (we'd say it's okay if it's on a device, as long as your WiFi is off and you've got amazing self-control), put together puzzles, or invest in something new.

What's important is that you set up this space to make it somewhere you'd want to be. Convenience and comfort are top-of-mind goals for this area, so if you don't have a permanent place, you can create an easy-to-reach kit for your hobby, or whatever offline task it is you're working on.

There's also the option of not doing anything in your tech-free zones. If all you want to do is spend a few minutes meditating, zoning out, or simply staring off into space while sipping on a drink or munching on a treat, it's all up to you.

4. Create a ritual

Now that you have a dedicated space to go tech-free, you need to dedicate time as well. You can start as small as a few minutes a day, and grow it to scheduling a whole day offline weekly, or even more, depending on your own relationship with going tech-free. The core thing you need is to be intentional about it. Going offline is a choice in today's world, so you have to choose it, and consistently so (a mindset that is best to have with any relationship, really).

Due to the nature of my work, I spend a majority of the day looking at my screen, so I make sure I get back my time by setting aside a few minutes to be offline. It's easy to feel like your days are no longer yours when you're shackled to work or other responsibilities, so being intentional about going offline for a bit—for me, personally, usually at the end of the day when I cook, exercise, or whatnot—is one way to "seize the day."

5. Don't box yourself in

it's very important to remember that this is a journey, cliche as it might sound. Taking that first step is always the hardest thing to do. And everyone's situation is different, so take into account that you might have to struggle with others in your household, and yes, yourself, for sure. What worked for me might not work for you, so feel free to see what experiments you can do in your offline journey. Just remember that nothing good ever came easy, and you deserve this peace.