Lifestyle & HomeBeginnerPreview
Digital Detox
This course teaches you to measure, limit, and redesign your relationship with technology using evidence-based strategies. You will leave with a personalised detox plan and sustainable daily rituals that restore focus, sleep, and real-world connection.
Adults who feel overwhelmed by device use, struggle with focus or sleep, and want a practical, science-backed plan to reduce digital noise and reclaim their attention.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook is the hands-on companion to the Digital Detox course. Complete each section alongside its corresponding module to build your personal screen-time audit, Tech Boundary Policy, offline ritual stack, and 7-day detox log. Every exercise is designed to produce a concrete, usable output — not just reflection.
Understanding Your Digital Baseline
Generate your honest screen-time data, categorise your usage, and map the specific triggers that drive your Compulsive checking.
Exercise: 7-Day Screen-Time Audit
Capture your screen-time data for a full week using iOS Screen Time or Android Digital Wellbeing. Do not change any settings during this week — just observe. Then complete the prompts below.
- What was your average daily screen time across the 7 days? How does that compare to what you expected before you looked?
- Which single app consumed the most time? Does that surprise you, and why or why not?
- How many times per day did you pick up your phone on average (unlock count)? What does that number tell you about the compulsive-vs-intentional ratio of your use?
- After categorising your apps as Productive, Connective, Consumptive, or Compulsive, what percentage of your total daily screen time falls in the Compulsive category?
Worksheet: Usage Category Map
List every app with more than 15 minutes of daily average use. Assign each to one category. Calculate the total time for each category.
- App name
- Daily average (minutes)
- Category (Productive / Connective / Consumptive / Compulsive)
- Notes (what need does this app meet?)
- Priority target? (yes / no)
Checklist: Trigger Journal Setup Checklist
- Created a Trigger Journal note on laptop or paper notebook (not on phone)
- Recorded at least 10 reflexive phone-grab entries over 3 days
- Identified my top 3 trigger emotions from the entries
- Identified my top 3 trigger contexts (locations or situations)
- Flagged which triggers I want to address first in my boundary policy
Designing Your Tech Boundary Policy
Draft your personalised notification rules, device-free zones, hours, and checking windows, then consolidate them into a single written Tech Boundary Policy.
Exercise: Notification Whitelist Design
Starting from zero notifications, build your three-tier whitelist. Think carefully about genuine urgency versus manufactured urgency before assigning any app to Tier 1 or Tier 2.
- Which 5–10 people, if they called or texted, genuinely cannot wait? List them — this is your Tier 1.
- Which apps need to appear silently (Tier 2), and how often do you actually need to check them during a workday?
- Which apps did you discover you had assigned notifications to reflexively, with no real urgency argument? How does listing them make you feel?
- After implementing the whitelist for 48 hours, what did you not miss that you expected to miss?
Worksheet: Tech Boundary Policy — Draft Template
Complete each field below to draft your full Tech Boundary Policy. Be specific — vague rules are broken rules.
- Tier 1 contacts (names or roles — who gets sound-on notifications)
- Tier 2 apps (silent banner only — list each)
- Tier 3 apps (notifications fully off — list each)
- Device-free zone 1 (room and rule, e.g. bedroom after 9:30 pm)
- Device-free zone 2 (room and rule)
- Optional device-free zone 3
- Morning buffer rule (no phone until after: [activity], minimum [X] minutes from waking)
- Evening cutoff time (phone to charging station by [time])
- Checking window 1 (time range and apps in scope)
- Checking window 2 (time range and apps in scope)
- Checking window 3 (optional — time range and apps in scope)
- Emergency exception (the one override condition)
Checklist: Policy Implementation Checklist
- Notification whitelist fully configured on my primary device
- Do Not Disturb scheduled with Tier 1 exceptions set
- Physical charging station set up outside bedroom
- Device-free zone boundaries physically marked or anchored (basket, drawer, sign)
- Checking window times entered as calendar blocks or phone alarms
- Tech Boundary Policy printed or saved to a visible location
- Policy shared with household members affected by the zones
Building Offline Rituals
Design and anchor your morning ritual, evening wind-down, and full-presence social and deep-work practices so that offline time becomes the default reward state.
Exercise: Ritual Design Sprint
For each of the three offline ritual categories below, identify one specific activity, the existing cue you will stack it onto, and the physical anchor that will make it automatic.
- Morning ritual: What one activity will you do in your first 30–60 minutes before touching your phone? What existing cue (waking, kettle boiling, alarm) will trigger it? Where will you place the physical tool that makes it easy?
- Evening wind-down: What activity will you use for cognitive decompression in the 45–60 minutes before sleep? What object will you place in your bedroom to make it the default option instead of your phone?
- Deep-work block: What task or project domain will you assign your 90-minute daily block to this week? What time of day is your peak alertness, and which physical space will you use with the phone physically absent?
Worksheet: Offline Ritual Stack
Document your three anchored offline rituals in the format below. A ritual is not real until it has a specific cue, a specific activity, and a specific physical anchor.
- Ritual name (e.g. Morning Walk)
- Category (Morning / Evening / Social / Deep Work)
- Existing cue to stack onto
- Specific activity (be precise — not 'journal', but '3 sentences about today's intention')
- Duration (minutes)
- Physical anchor or prop
- First implementation date
Checklist: Offline Ritual Launch Checklist
- Analogue alarm clock purchased or placed on bedside table
- Morning ritual tool (journal, trainers, French press) placed in the first space I enter after waking
- Evening light dimming set up (lamp, smart bulb, or dimmer) in main living area
- Physical book or magazine placed on bedside table as default evening activity
- Phone-free social ritual communicated to at least one regular social contact
- Deep-work block scheduled in calendar for each weekday this week
- Kitchen timer or Toggl desktop app ready for deep-work block timing
The 7-Day Detox Protocol and Long-Term Sustainability
Run your 7-day protocol, track daily metrics, compare your Day 7 data to baseline, and build the weekly review habit that prevents drift.
Exercise: 7-Day Protocol Reflection
After completing the 7-day progressive detox, review your daily log data and answer the following questions. Use specific numbers where possible.
- Compare your Day 7 screen-time OS data to your Day 1 baseline. What is the absolute reduction in daily minutes, and what percentage reduction is that?
- Looking at your daily log, which single protocol change (notification whitelist, bedroom ban, morning buffer, checking windows, or deep-work block) correlated most strongly with your highest mood, focus, and sleep scores?
- What was the hardest moment of the 7 days — the peak urge to abandon a rule? What did you do, and what does that tell you about your most vulnerable trigger?
- Which offline ritual felt most genuinely enjoyable (not just virtuous), and how will you protect time for it going forward?
Worksheet: Daily Detox Log
Complete one row per day during the 7-day protocol. Record in the morning and evening. Use your OS screen-time data for the actual screen time figure.
- Day (1–7)
- Date
- Sleep quality last night (1–10)
- First phone check (time from waking, in minutes)
- Mood on waking (1–10)
- Focus quality today (1–10)
- OS-reported screen time today (minutes)
- Protocol rule active today
- One sentence: what felt different today
Checklist: Weekly Review Ritual Checklist
- Weekly screen-time summary reviewed and compared to personal target
- Daily log scores reviewed — two highest-scoring days identified
- One boundary erosion named explicitly
- One small policy adjustment made (app limit tightened, curfew moved, zone added)
- One specific win celebrated — named and noted
- Next week's Sunday Review blocked in calendar
- Quarterly Tech Policy refresh scheduled for end of current season
Your Action Plan
- This week: run a 7-day screen-time audit with zero behaviour changes and screenshot your weekly OS summary on Day 7
- This week: complete the Trigger Journal for 3 days and identify your top 3 trigger emotions and contexts
- Before Day 2: implement your full notification whitelist using the three-tier framework — start from zero, whitelist only what is genuinely urgent
- Before Day 3: set up a physical charging station outside your bedroom and move your phone there tonight
- Before Day 4: design and anchor your morning ritual using an existing cue and a physical prop placed in your first morning space
- Before Day 5: schedule your three checking windows in your calendar and turn off all Tier 3 app notifications
- Before Day 6: schedule your first 90-minute deep-work block and identify which task domain it will serve this week
- Day 7: compare all OS screen-time data to Day 1 baseline and write three sentences about what changed
- Sunday of Week 2: complete your first 15-minute Weekly Review using the workbook checklist
- End of current season: schedule a 30-minute Quarterly Tech Policy refresh to update your boundary rules for the next context
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