We recently met Melissa Coton at a learning session we ran for an international entertainment brand as part of their Learning at Work Expo. Melissa has been experimenting with her relationship with her smartphone and went offline for a week to see what would happen. The findings are very interesting! Read all about her experience here…

I decided to ‘go offline’ for the last week of my 40 Day Program (blog post coming soon). I had given up different foods during the previous weeks, but had committed only to reducing my internet consumption , failing miserably to stay offline for more than a day. This was a clear sign to me that I had a minor addiction, and should try giving it up altogether. I want to clarify my self-imposed rules as technically I wasn’t completely offline; most of my work is done by email; and I did say to my friends and family that they could reach me by email if they needed me.

I’m no phone junkie; I’m even known for telling people off for using their phones when they are with people. Unless a call or message is urgent, I strongly believe in prioritising the person you have in front of you. However, when I am ‘alone’, I tend to stare at my screen and my phone becomes my link to all the people I love. So as Sunday night approached, I messaged my friends on watsapp to announce my week off and was amused to receive a few messages including ‘I wish I could do that’, ‘enjoy’, ‘let me know how it goes’ and a genuine ‘why?!’. As my self imposed cut off approached, I wondered how I would cope 7 days without ‘internet’, and I couldn’t wait to find out.

Day 1: I feel a bit silly writing about this, I realise how much of a first world problem this is.

My commute to and from work seems different, I still hold my phone in my hand at the beginning, out of habit, but I put it away as soon as I realise there isn’t much use to it without the magic connection.

As the day goes by, I feel less surrounded and also less distracted, which enables me to get through more work than usual.

I think I’ve made eye contact with more people today and I am hyper aware of the mobile zombies only looking up briefly to make sure they aren’t walking into another commuter.

A few times during the day I think I must contact someone to tell them something but as I realise that I can’t, I think I’ll tell them next week, if I remember, meaning it probably wasn’t that important. This makes me question the importance of all the conversations I have on watsapp on a daily basis.

After work I embark on a homemade soup as I feel like I have the whole evening ahead of me. I don’t spend much time on my phone and I never watch TV, but do I tend to check social platforms when I’m waiting for something; the water to boil or the oven to heat, or if I’m dining alone I might Instagram my dinner and check out what my friends have been up to. Tonight though, I enjoy my own company and it’s uplifting.

As I go to bed I realise that the only texts I received today are from Sam (my boyfriend), but I haven’t texted anyone either.

Day 2: I’m getting used to not checking my phone every 2 seconds. On my way to work I do some of the reading for my YTT course, which I have been postponing, my excuse being that my commute isn’t long enough. I realise that although my bus ride is quick, I have managed to read a couple of pages – I work out that if I do this every day both ways, I will have finished my reading by the end of the week!

I feel the urge to text a couple of people, to confirm plans and just to say hi. I do, and I receive quick replies. I’ve had my communication fix for the day and forget my phone in my coat the whole day.

My day feels very productive and I don’t even miss IG or FB, but I am missing watsapp a bit, or rather the people I talk to on it.

Day 3: I saw some of my yogi friends at the studio last night, we chatted and shared a few giggles and I think I valued our exchange more than I usually do, maybe because I didn’t have that many interactions with friends throughout the day. Or perhaps it was because I felt like I wouldn’t be able to communicate with them until I bumped into them again.

One of my dear friends and I did a little accroyoga, took a picture, and my immediate thought was that I’d like to share it on IG.

This reminds me of my philosophy teacher asking the class ‘if a tree falls in the forest and no one sees it, did it fall?’ it seemed like such a silly question at the time, but now I see that I validate a lot of what I do through the eyes of others, as if my own eyes were not enough.

Day 4: I’m so busy at work all day that I don’t even think about social media. On my way to the final meeting of my 40 day program I contemplate messaging my fellow yogis to tell them about the delicious quiche I’ve made for them (recipe on my blog) but I realise it’s unnecessary as I am going to see them within 2 hours.

Day 5: Following last night’s overwhelming final meeting, I feel the urge to contact everyone to tell them how grateful I am to have shared this journey with them. I tell myself however that I have already made that declaration to the whole group last night. I must learn to trust that communicating a message once is enough. Today during my lunch I check if the next MGV tickets are out. It turns out they are, and as I scroll down, I see that MGV has quoted my blog , I can see that the post has a few reposts, likes and comments. I am curious, happy and proud and would love to contact MGV to thank them for this, but it will have to wait until Monday and I’m ok with it. I guess this is the most important lesson from this week – life online won’t stop without me, but it’s ok if I miss some of it, even most of it, because if I don’t, I’m probably missing out on real life.

Day 6: I spend the day with my boyfriend’s family in Wales and I leave my phone in the room all day; it’s easy to be offline when spending time with people you love.

This does make me miss my own family, and I actually cheat a bit by asking Sam to watsapp my mum and tell her that I love her and miss her and will be back online on Monday.

Day 7: Phone, what phone? Just kidding, I’m actually quite looking forward to turning my internet back on. Part of me wants to stay offline but most of me wants to see what’s happened over the past few days in my family group, on our YTT group and with all my friends in general. I almost try to argue to myself that since I went offline last Sunday evening, I could technically come back online tonight, but I know that it can wait until tomorrow.

This blog was originally posted here

‘I’m in control… I can stop whenever I like…’
Helen Taylor shares how a Shine Offline day made her question her use of technology.

I have to admit I turned up to the Shine Offline workshop feeling more than a little defensive and sceptical. I didn’t feel in need of a “digital detox”, an expression I could barely bring myself to utter due to a cringing suspicion it made me sound like a faddish wannabe-hipster. Then there was the suggestion of addiction: was going to the workshop an admission that I was in need of some kind of intervention?

I mean: Addicted? Really? Come on… surely that’s just a bit melodramatic?

I love my online life, it’s rich, engaging and fulsome. My iPhone is a box of delights: full of little versions of my funny, inspiring friends ready to spring into action and entertain. My phone is always there, and always ready: all manner of entertainments, ideas and enticing opportunities fizz away inside it, permanently at arm’s reach, just waiting for me to activate them into dazzling life.

Sure, I can be as guilty as the next person of occasionally frittering away hours, falling down a Tumblr wormhole, or getting sucked into an unfolding social media drama. And sure, it’s also true that I’m no stranger to the clenched jaw, jittery heart and rolodex-ing of thoughts that comes when stress and anxiety threaten to overwhelm.

But, but, but… there’s no connection between the two… it’s not my smartphone that makes me stressy, for heaven’s sake. No, my busy over-committed life and the daily juggle of roles and responsibilities are to blame for that. The internet is my happy place; the provider of light relief, a way to wind down, a place to connect with like minds, seek consolation and forget the slings and arrows of the daily grind.

I don’t have a problem… I’m in control… I can stop whenever I like…

Denial is the surest sign you’ve got a problem, right?

During my day with the Shine Offline team – which was fun, refreshing and energising in all sorts of surprising ways – I had a moment of epiphany: How can my online world be simultaneously stimulating and relaxing? How does that work? And why does this conundrum feel familiar? It was in the days after the workshop, as I started to experiment with new habits that I recalled where I had come across the stimulation-relaxation paradox before. Nicotine: a previous addictive adversary.

Back when I was trying to kick the smoking habit, I’d used Alan Carr’s Easy Way to Give Up Smoking. Through the book, Carr invites you to critically examine the faulty thinking that underpins nicotine addiction and debunks the different mental excuses smokers use to continue their habit. Among these was that smokers often claim to need cigarettes both for relaxation/stress relief and for energising stimulation. Carr points out that these are physiologically opposite. The idea that they provide both is an illusion.

Cigarettes feel relaxing because they provide temporary respite from nicotine craving. Just as checking my email, the news or social media online feels relaxing because it temporarily satisfies my need for distraction from the mundane or the difficult. While there’s nothing wrong in seeking escapism, I am wrong to kid myself into believing that this is a beneficial kind of relaxation.

The truth is that life online is stimulating. Very stimulating. Highly, effectively and addictively stimulating. It’s a fantastic way to forget about my ever-pressing to-do list, or to postpone the necessity of getting stuck into that tricky piece of work exactly because it’s so entertaining, fun and thought-provoking. It’s demanding in a low key way: “just give a little attention here”, “have you seen this?”, “have you thought about that?” “what’s your opinion on x/y/z?” it screams at me. Each tiny scream is easy and often enjoyable to answer. But cumulatively they are as demanding and draining as a roomful of hungry toddlers.

This creates a pressure. Any time spent keeping up with and fulfilling its demands is time when I’m adding to the stress-load on my body and mind without making the slightest dent on my to-do list. I may escape the world, but I don’t nourish my mind and body in a way that effectively counters the pressures of everyday life.

With this in mind, here are my post-Shine Offline resolutions:

– Keep phone out of sight when at home and with friends & family so that it doesn’t trigger the impulse to check it

– Turn off the demanding red notification from as many apps as possible

– Stop using the internet to provide rewards and breaks in work and study.

Helen Taylor is a Freelance Market Research Consultant. She took part in a Shine Offline Day in December 2015.

By Pippa Moyles of Think Productive

When we tell the delegates at our workshops to only process their emails three times a day, we’re often greeted with disbelief. The majority of people process their emails once an hour and some have it running all the time on a second screen. Constantly checking emails has become embedded into working cultures.

One of the major appeals of checking emails is that it makes people feel more productive – by replying to emails, you’re getting stuff done. However, what people often don’t factor for is the level of distraction that emails cause to your day, your health and your career.
A recent report by the London-based Future Work Centre found that two of the most stressful habits were leaving email on all day and checking emails both early in the morning and late at night. They also found that email pressure is higher in younger people and decreases in age.

Society has become increasingly reliant on using email as the primary source of communication, allowing everyone’s inbox to not only be a space for information but also a space for emotional reactions too. We created our Email Etiquette workshop to avoid this from happening, by helping organisations to set ground rules around email culture.

Various studies have shown that emails take up a minimum of 40% of the average worker’s time. This leaves very little time for career-defining projects to take place. In the majority of cases, email may be a useful tool towards creating a project, but Outlook can’t write that report for you.

Winston Churchill once wrote: “you will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” If he were alive today, he’d say the same thing about emails. Your mind needs time and space to produce its best work.

Our founder and CEO, Graham Allcott, wrote a book called How to be a Productivity Ninja a few years ago and subsequently developed Think Productive based on it. He writes about nine different characteristics: agility, ruthlessness, stealth and camouflage, zen-like calm, weapon savvy, mindfulness, unorthodoxy, preparedness and human not superhero.

One of the most important secrets about being a Productivity Ninja is understanding how your mind works. There’s no place for traditional Time Management in this era of Information Overload – the future is Attention Management – the practice of scheduling your work in terms of your attention.

Attention Management holds the key to feeling more stressed and in control of your workload. By scheduling tasks based on your own psychology, you’re setting the expectations of realistically what you can get done. Equally, focusing in on your own attention span makes you far more aware of distractions – and far less likely to fall victim to them, most of the time.

Once our delegates have gotten past the initial shock of only processing emails three times a day, the reaction usually reverts from disbelief to relief – especially when we reveal that you can get your inbox to zero in little time at all with specific methods shared in Chapter 4 of How to be a Productivity Ninja and in our workshop Getting Your Inbox To Zero (where we’ve gotten 15,000 emails to 0 within 3 hours before). It is often the case that a person’s anxiety at work stems from them feeling a lack of control over their own projects. If your emails are constantly running in the background then the time that you’ve set aside to do these projects will inevitably feel out of control because you’re allowing other people to steal your attention.

Switching off your emails and allowing your mind time to monotask on a project gives the control back to you. By processing your emails three times a day, you’ll never miss anything, and getting ahead in that project will give you a greater sense of achievement, along with the opportunity to show your colleagues what you’re really made of.