How helpful are your digital habits? And do they serve you… or serve someone else?

I attended a digital wellbeing course recently, and it made me rethink how I use technology and how it influences our habits.

The first thing we had to do was write down how many apps we had used before the course started at 10am…

My list included email, WhatsApp, notes, reminders, calendar, work software, social media, websites... It was eye opening.

No wonder our brains feel exhausted - we’re constantly switching from one thing to the next, and it takes mental effort to come in and out of different tasks and digital systems.

One thing the course highlighted for me was the way in which apps play on our FOMO to keep us hooked in. Not just the doom scrolling, but the idea of “maintaining your streak”. They’re designed to make us feel that something terrible is going to happen if we miss a day and break the streak.

This is THE OPPOSITE of us creating daily habits that empower us and help us work towards what we want.

This is us handing power over to tech companies and advertisers who want to keep us hooked in for their own gain.

For example, I’ve been using Duolingo for a few months, and I think it’s a great tool for learning. However - it’s pushy. It emails and notifies you constantly, demanding your attention, warning you that you’re about to break your streak.

The app icon even starts to blur when you miss a day, and there’s a constant red bubble of “missed notifications”.

Doing the course made me realise how gamified the app is. So I decided to become the boss of Duolingo and not the other way round.

I’ll learn when I choose to, not when it pings me at 11.59 pm telling me I’m about to miss a deadline.

It’s very freeing to break the “streak” (nothing bad happens) and get back onto my own chosen schedule.

I think it’s important for us to create the daily habits, and the life, that WE want.

I’ve found it really refreshing to have an objective look at how I use various types of technology and how they serve me - rather than me serving them!

How helpful are your digital habits? Here's a great exercise we did on the course that you can try too:

Make a list of all the apps and technology you use regularly. Then beside each one draw a smiley, sad or neutral face based on how your use of that app makes you feel.

Some of them are just necessary, and you have a neutral feeling about them. Some of them support you to navigate your day, make your workload easier, or bring you joy. And some of them... they cause you stress or negative feelings.

Have a look at your list. What small changes could you make to regain control of your digital habits and make them work for YOU?