We recently wrote an article about how the new year is a great time to start building new habits. But sometimes, just building new habits isn’t enough. Sometimes, what you really need a personal hard reset. So let’s take a look at some ways to reset your digital life, and how it can help you become more happy and productive for the start of the new year.
Why Reboot?
There are a lot of times where we say “when I get some time I’d love to do ...”, but it seems that time never arrives. Part of that is the busy lies we lead, but another part is other distractions. In today’s age, a lot of those distractions are digital, and the accessibility of devices means they will likely only increase.
These distractions don’t have to be social media apps, but can also mean clutter or overcrowding. We might clean our desk or our house every-so-often, but what about your tech? When buying new devices, it’s often easier to just transfer everything across. This can reduce interruptions, but that leaves a lot of digital clutter.
The solution? Hit the reset button. Let’s take a look at some ways you can start to digitally reset.
Tips to Reset your Digital Life
1. Take a Weekend Detox
Routines are hard to break because they’re something you do every day. Digital routines are even harder because of the accessibility of our apps and digital devices. If you’re struggling with technology overwhelm, try taking a weekend without any of your devices.
This can be a great self-assessment for how technology impacts your life. By upending just a single weekend, you might find you have a lot more time for other things in your life, or it might give you the motivation to get things done that you previously didn’t have the time for. There are some great resources about how to detox right, and can help if you’re looking for something less extremely than an analogue weekend.
It’s important to ask: do you think impact of technology on your life is positive, or not?
Just because you want to reset your digital life, it doesn’t mean everything has to go. Taking this time can help you find what parts of analogue life you want, but also what digital aspects you want to keep. Make a plan for the digital things you want to swap out, and what you want to swap them with. Making swaps instead of just removing can help fill gaps and decrease the need to go back.
2. Go on a Cleanup Spree
A digital life reset doesn’t have to mean going to a deleting spree, but it does mean tidying your digital space. There are different ways to do this, but two stand out to me (depending on your risk and inconvenience tolerance).
- The slower, and more manual method, is to go through all your files and delete or file away the ones you don’t need. This could be on a USB or portable drive, or just in an archive folder on your current device. The most important thing is to get them out of the way to leave you with a cleaner space.
- The more ... nuclear option is make a complete backup of all your data and wipe it from your computer. This will leave you with a completely clean slate, while retaining the option of copying across old files as you need them. This is most certainly the riskier of the two, but we are talking about a hard reset here. If you have the money, purchasing a new device and starting fresh carries less risk.
It can help to set a time aside every six months, or year, to go through the process again. A single cleanup spree will help for the moment, but five years down the track, your devices will likely be full of clutter again. If you looking for more, there are many other things you can digitally clean up, which can further help you find clarity in your devices.
3. Set Digital Boundaries
The last thing you want is to go through a digital reset just to end up back where you started six months down the track. To avoid that, set up digital rules to make it clear to yourself about what is and isn’t okay. Some suggestions are:
- If you’re struggling with overusing apps, set a 10-minute per day timer for all apps. Yes, all apps, even your phone app. Then, as you genuinely need to use each for longer, increase or remove the limit. This can help you discover and monitor your usage, giving you a clearer picture on what you might want to improve.
- A more extreme option is to delete all non-essential apps from your phone. We’re not talking about archiving them; we want those app icons gone. This can again give you clarity of which apps you do and don’t need. Of course, you should re-install the ones you end up needing, but the others can stay off your phone for good.
- Set hard rules for digital exclusion. This might look like turning all devices off from 10pm–10am to give 12 hours of a distraction-free environment. Or you might agree with your family to put your devices in a different room when you’re spending time together.
After all that, it’s important to know one key thing: when to break your rules. Life is unpredictable, and sometimes things happen that mean overriding those rules — and that’s okay. But equally, breaking them too often — and for reasons that don’t need it — can limit the effectiveness of setting them in the first place. It’s a balancing act, and it’s up to you to find that balance.
The Reward of Renewing
Resetting isn’t just about the action of pressing the button, but about by doing so, you’re starting Day 1 of your new rules and routines. Resetting can make us more productive, help us find clarity in our lives, and give us the chance to focus on what matters.
Just like how we need a clean desk space to work efficiently, we often need a clean digital space to think efficiently.
It’s important to realise that this only works if you’re willing the put the effort in. Hitting the reset button does nothing to stop you rebuilding the same habits if that’s what you want. Ultimately, it’s up to you to want change, and stick to it.
So whether you’re looking to ease into the new year, or ready to go nuclear with a complete reset, the most important step is change.
Does your business need a tech reset? At FONSEKA, we build technology that works for you. If you’re looking to refresh your software systems, or want a complete overhaul, get in touch to see how we can help https://fonseka.com.au/offers/build-what-you-dream