STEPPING BACK FROM DIGITAL ADDICTION

This article is taken fromĀ Declutter Your Home.

If you’d like to discover how to get rid of the stuff you don’t need and tidy up your life then click the button below.

It's one thing to take practical actions against continuing to store data that no longer serves you, it's quite a different matter to behave in ways that waste your time or pull you away from those things you consider important.

1. Cut you Social Media Addiction. It's time for you to impose a set limit on the amount of time you spend spend on social media, regardless of which platforms you are a regular or even heavy user of. Rather than go cold-turkey overnight, you are better to fix an amount of time and start with this. How many hours a day are you connected to your social platforms? Cut an hour from that tomorrow and work forward from there. Aim towards a morning catch up and an evening catch up, perhaps twenty minutes on each. You do not need any more than that. How different might your life be if you were to take the time 'spent' on Social Media and move it to activities that increase your personal health, well being and actual happiness? Social Media is not the same as a 'social life'.

2. Games. Addictive, fun and time suckers. Scrabble, Weekend, Game of Thrones, Medal of Honour, Chess, Candy Crush, etc. Do you have to play a game? What is it and why do you play it? Rather than living in escapism, can you let it go and instead use your time to work on your goals for the real world?

3. Twitter. Do you have 20,000 followers and post three times a day? Have you posted 3,000 times this year? Why? Other than a high when someone likes, follows or retweets, are you getting some real value from this activity? I dare you to ask your family and actual friends if they would prefer your time and attention.

4. Facebook. These 623 Friends are not your friends. When you need to cry over a bereavement they will not all be there. When you are lonely and scared about something talk to a real friend, grab a coffee with a real person and just 'talk'. If you are nervous about what people think, before you cull the numbers, start by clicking the 'Unfriend' button. They can still follow your activity, but you no longer get the updates about lives you are not really interested in. Could you consider the fact that a post once or twice a week is more genuine than four posts a day. Are there twenty people you want to spend time with this year? Pick up the phone and call them. If you really do care about a video showing a cat jumping away from a cucumber, or a beautiful family that you have never met showing off with the graduating daughter, or the poolside party life, ask yourself why these things merit your attention in a life that only has a set number of hours and minutes. Me, a cynic? No. I use Facebook and Instagram sparingly as a networking tool, but only for a daily average of 15 minutes twice a day.

5. YouTube. Great for millions of videos and a ton of music. It will allow you to throw away the majority of your music on CD and to dispose of your DVD collection, if you still have one. Also a great place for learning material, instructional video, motivational ideas, how-to content and inspiring speeches and educational TED talks.

Ok, that's my rant over and I hope you will please forgive me. I enjoy Pinterest to get inspiration for home decor, Instagram for selling vintage books and Facebook mainly for the messenger facility when I am at a desk and actually have wifi switched on. But I like to limit my non-email online time to no more than 30 minutes each day. There is so much more to do.

Remember that decluttering is not just about the physical items and belongings that take up space in your home environment. The massive digital distraction posed by social media is a massive potential drain of your time and focus away from what matters for you in leading a value driven life. If you want to see radical change in your daily life, just start to switch off your wifi access for several hours each day and watch how much quality time you find. Notice the effects of this on your sense of self and what is important to you in your own life. You are NOT your social media accounts!