4 Easy Ways to Build Digital Wellbeing into Your Routine

We’re all feeling frazzled by our devices and the pull technology is taking on our lives.

While we can all agree that there are perks to the ease of technology, such as access to information and the ability to work from anywhere, it’s hard to ignore the soaring loneliness statistics and stories of poor mental health affecting increasingly younger generations.

There may be days when you have a handle on things but that’s just it, those are now the exception to the rule rather than the norm in Western societies. We might applaud ourselves for keeping our phone in our bag over dinner that one time, or attending an event last month that encouraged connection without devices, but on a day-to-day basis we’re more likely to grab our phone before kissing our partner, scroll through senseless news or notifications before looking properly into our children’s eyes, or filling our minds with the darkness of the world before sitting up and noticing the beauty around us.

No wonder we’re feeling more depressed, anxious and burnt out.

We seem to be tackling the symptoms brought on by our lifestyles rather than looking underneath the hood to find the source of our challenges. It seems easier to pop a pill or read about a hack rather than get into the fundamental truths of our lives and assess what we truly need.

In a world of distraction and dopamine highs, we’re often avoiding the real engine trouble that needs looking at, as we don’t want to face the effort it may take to adjust to this ever-changing, fast-paced environment.

Here are four ways to get tactical about what you need to boost your routine and happiness, challenging the digital world's impact on how you feel:

1. Get existential

I realize this doesn’t sound like a hack and, if you’re prone to anxiety, may be license to overthink but hear me out. So often we’re rushing around firefighting and reacting to so many things around us that by the time we get to the evening, we’re so digitally fried that all we find it in ourselves to do is lay in front of Netflix, eat poor food and continue to consume until hitting patchy sleep and then it all starts again.

Getting existential means reflecting on what you truly want, who you are and what you want to look back on when you’re old and grey many years from now. So, think about how you can include reflection time into your daily routine.  There are many ways to do this, but the important part is listening to your body and what works for you.

I’m a morning person and a writer, so I love waking up and journaling with a gorgeous cup of coffee, reflecting on what I want and need. You might be someone who thinks best when on the move, so a walk without earbuds will help you contemplate in silence. Rather than having a hard and fast rule here, it’s about creating space to ask yourself: What do I want to look back on at the end of my life? What matters to me? How do I want to spend this one precious life?

2. Assess your relationship to technology

This isn’t just about a passing eye-roll where you can say “we’re all addicted right?” and then carry on as you were. That’s a cop-out! And while there are billions of dollars being spent on competing for our attention, making addiction a very real issue, viewing it this way can strip away your sense of control and ultimately contribute to the problem

There are two key ways to assess your relationship to technology, and they work for addiction too:

• Personal reflection: this takes radical honesty.  Ask yourself, “Is my relationship to my device affecting how I feel, what I do or who I’m with?”. This will be your first piece of information.
• Get feedback: when I run workshops on Digital Wellbeing and ask people to ask the people closest to them what they think their relationship is like with their device, there’s a low muffled uncomfortable chuckle as everyone looks around thinking, yikes, I think I know what they’d say.

Both your personal reflection and feedback from others will give you a reality check that you can compare with your existential reflections to figure out what really needs to change. You now have a clear ‘why’ to underpin any routines or habit changes you’d like to experiment with.

3. Map out your boundaries

Let’s get tactical. You now know what you want – richer relationships with people, more energy to do things you love, better sleep and space for reflection or creative pursuits and experiences.  Wonderful! Now consider what you need to do to get those things. What do you need less of? What will help your nervous system relax so you can make creative decisions rather than reactive ones coming from a survival place?

It’s time to ask yourself what is within your control. There are plenty of things that aren’t and that’s okay. Reflect on which of these feelings are true and which aren’t. Consider what boundaries you can set at work, what influences you allow into your space and what you might be avoiding by constantly consuming and chasing a dopamine high that distracts you from doing the real work needed to build the life you want.

When we get tactical, we might ask ourselves what we need less of to make space for what we truly want.  Keep it simple—write down three things you want less of (for example, notifications that trigger your nervous system, buying things you don’t need, clickbait news that makes you feel bad, or mindless scrolling and comparing yourself to others). Also, remember the feedback you’ve received from the people around you. Boundaries are most effective when we share what we’re working on and build accountability with friends, partners and co-workers.

4. Experiment and iterate

Addiction hides in shame and secrecy but cannot thrive when brought into the light. Knowing firsthand about the shame of alcohol addiction, I know that recovery comes from making the problem real by talking to others and then having accountability in creating new habits.

Of course, with technology, we can’t simply quit or stop using it entirely. Instead, we need to find ways to live alongside it, allowing it to be the positive force it can be while taking full responsibility for our behaviours, relationships and the life we want to maintain. This phase is about ongoing experimentation and adjustment—working through it together, not alone.

This means exploring what works best for you. Just as the food we eat impacts our health, energy and mental wellbeing, what we feed our mind and nervous system also influences what we consume, how we compare ourselves to others and where our focus and energy are directed.

Those who have the resilience to stay creative, build genuine relationships and resist dopamine-driven urges designed to trap us will be the true successes of the future. The real challenge is recognizing the problem for what it is, acknowledging your role in the cycle of addiction and using radical honesty and accountability to create a world where technology enhances life instead of draining it.

The struggle is real, and the stakes are high. Phones are now cited as reasons for divorce, dating apps are seen as obstacles to meaningful relationships, youth suicide rates are at unprecedented levels and burnout is soaring in our always-on culture. As I see it, we can either continue discussing these issues and accept them as the new normal, or we can take responsibility by speaking openly about a society that is keeping us frazzled and take the brave actions necessary to build a world we want to live in.