Finally Ready to Unplug?
March 4 National Day of Unplugging Is A Wakeup Call for our Digital Wellbeing
Do you find yourself looking at your digital device in bed, in the bathroom and at the dinner table? Does COVID-19 impacts, the Russia Ukraine situation and politics cause you to doomsday scroll? As we approach three years of the pandemic, many continue to suffer from anxiety, exhaustion and fatigue when it comes to our digital health.
National Day of Unplugging, celebrated on the first Friday of March, is a wakeup call according to digital wellness author, speaker and expert Mark Ostach, He urges we unplug so we can carve out time to relax, reflect, be active and connect with colleagues and loved ones. According to recent surveys, we spent approximately 17 hours per week online.
“We are spending more time each year on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube TikTok or other social media platforms,” says Ostach. “The screen time is staggering and is lost time dedicated to our wellbeing. National Day of Unplugging is more than just an awareness day, it is a wakeup call to make a lifestyle change for your weekly rhythm to improve your wellbeing.”
Ostach, on a mission to teach people healthy digital habits so they can improve their digital wellness and create deeper connections with things in life that matter most, says digital wellness is a way to view the content in which you are exposed to and how it fits into your overall wellness. He adds creating boundaries with our devices enables us to reset, help improve our sleep, and boost our physical and mental health.
How to Unplug?
Ostach recommends we try to unplug one day a week by taking the following approach:
· Post the day before that you are unplugging
· On the Day of Unplugging, put your phone away.
3 Type of Unplugging
Ostach observes there are three types of unplugging.
1. Stop scrolling and posting on social media
2. Unplug from the entire digital world
3. Announces to unplug yet secretly scrolls social media
Ostach Offers Four Ways to Improve your Overall Digital Health:
His best tip? Go outside & get some fresh air! Even if it’s taking a few extra moments on your porch when you get the mail.