🙄 5 Easy Tips for Tech-Life Balance

Hello my dears, 

I’ve been thinking a lot about the “tips, tricks and tools” approach to digital wellbeing and you know what?  I think it has its limits.  

“Tips” for tech-life balance have the potential to be disempowering to people and bypass systemic factors (capitalism, racism, sexism: all the isms) without offering a critique of how we got here.

Our digital fixation has been brilliantly and intentionally manufactured with one main purpose in mind: selling us stuff. Products, ideas, lifestyles, candidates, conspiracy theories, you name it. 

In my work, I do always offer people tech-life balance strategies like charging their phone outside the bedroom, turning off push notifications or hiring a personal bouncer to knock phone out of their hand 😊. 

But over the years I have found that what’s most helpful is encouraging folks to get clear on what they are distracting themselves FROM and what their hearts really want.  

In order to spend less time on our phones we need to reclaim our lives in ways that greatly transcend quick fixes. This is a personal growth project that is most powerful when held in community.  

People are often surprised when they attend one of my retreats or events that the focus is not as much about reaching tech-life balance goals as it is about building community, having deep conversations, learning mindfulness and self-compassion skills and exploring meaning.  

We re-learn how to be truly present with self and others, and find that if we can embrace discomfort, stillness and boredom, we can experience deeper relationships, generativity, clarity, creativity and joy.  

I don’t call my work “digital detox” because let’s face it: detoxing sucks!  It’s a term connected to the diet-industrial-complex that creates a binary of good/bad that only fuels guilt and obligation.  

Yes, sometimes I do take people out into the woods and take away their phones, but it’s not to “detox,” it’s to create space to have a different experience and be fully present.  It’s about *adding* good stuff, not detoxing *bad* stuff.  

I want to give people an experience of deep connection to remind them it’s worth pushing through awkwardness to know each other.  

COVID-19 means no in-person retreats for a while, but I have been pretty delighted with the community we’re building through Zoom events that are limited in size and intentionally designed to make sure that everyone’s seen and supported.  

In the coming weeks, I will share some ideas for how to deepen this community and get your feedback on the kinds of offerings you would find most useful.  I hope you’ll join us. We’re having a blast over here!

Much love,
Christina

P.S. If you’ve read this far, thank you! I invite you to join my mailing list for occasional musings and updates on retreats and events. I won't spam you, or share your data. Let's start supporting small businesses on platforms they own!