The Digital Diet: Recent Episodes
Marisha Pink
Ever wondered why it's so hard to put your phone down? Join Digital Wellness Coach, Marisha Pink, as she explores how modern technology is affecting our everyday lives and shares actionable advice to help you minimise digital distractions, build healthier digital habits, and achieve a better tech-life balance. New episode every Tuesday.
In this episode, I talk about:
- The evolution of email from a rapid communication tool to a source of daily anxiety and stress
- Why managing multiple email accounts leads to email overload
- The fallacy of never-ending storage and how you end up keeping emails you don’t want or need
- The impact of email on marketing and the rise in unwanted emails, spam emails and data breaches
- How bad email etiquette increases the volume of email that you receive
- Why email notifications grab your attention, distract your focus, and stress you out
- How to consolidate and manage multiple email accounts to reduce unnecessary overwhelm
- How to declutter your inbox by setting up folders, unsubscribing from and deleting unwanted emails, and organising emails you want to keep
- How to manage the flow of incoming email using inbox rules and add-on tools
- The importance of resetting email notifications and establishing dedicated times for checking email throughout the day
- The 5 Email Unsubscribe Challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/033
Get your free #TechTimeout Challenge 30 Day Digital Detox Guide
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why smartphones stress you out, from constant notifications to the expectation that you’re always-on and always available, and how this impacts your mental health
- The challenge of maintaining data privacy when using smartphones to store or manage personal, health, and financial data
- How social interaction has decreased and loneliness has increased as smartphone ownership has risen
- Why smartphones are the ultimate distraction, affecting your focus and productivity
- The rise of dumbphones – simpler phone models with basic features and less connectivity than modern smartphones – and Newtro, the trend of reinventing retro cultural artifacts
- Why dumbphones are inherently appealing in the digital age and the benefits of owning one, from easier to use interfaces and better data security, to lower running costs, nostalgia, and the desire to live a digitally minimalist lifestyle
- How to decide if you’re ready for a dumbphone and the steps to make the transition from a smartphone
- The 24 Hour No Smartphone Challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/032
Get your free #TechTimeout Challenge 30 Day Digital Detox Guide
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Guidance issued by the UK Department for Education encouraging schools to ban mobile phones during the school day
- The rise of smartphone ownership among children and its effects on screen time, ability to focus, mental and physical wellbeing, academic performance, social interaction, online safety and data privacy
- The potential impact of a school mobile phone ban on the learning environment, children’s academic performance, and their overall wellbeing
- The role and responsibility of tech companies and online platforms in protecting children from harmful or age-inappropriate online content
- Practical advice for parents on how to navigate new school policies and effectively communicate the rules, their purpose, and the implications of failing to adhere to policies to children
- The School Mobile Phone Policy Challenge
Get your free #TechTimeout Challenge 30 Day Digital Detox Guide
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- New research revealing a link between social media use, nightmares, and poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression
- The Social Media Nightmare-Related Scale and how the intensity of your social media use predicts the frequency of social media-related nightmares
- Theories about why we have dreams and nightmares, including the Continuity Hypothesis of Dreaming and the Neurocognitive Model of Nightmare Etiology
- How nightmares impact your sleep quality, mental health and wellbeing
- How to reduce the time you spend on social media to avoid nightmares and boost your mental health
- The Dream Journal Challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/030
Get your free #TechTimeout Challenge 30 Day Digital Detox Guide
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- How digital devices are impacting your sleeping habits and could be depriving you of a proper night’s sleep
- The science of sleep and how you cycle between two phases – REM sleep and non-REM sleep – in 90-minute sleep cycles throughout the night
- Why the duration of your sleep matters just as much as the quality of your sleep
- The importance of sleep for mental health, emotional regulation, willpower and impulse control, focus and concentration, weight, and physical growth and repair
- How a lack of sleep increases your risk for every major disease in the Western world, could be ageing you faster, and even shortens your lifespan
- How much sleep the experts say you need and why you need to be consistent each night
- The pros and cons of napping and how to take the perfect nap
- 5 tips to improve your sleep hygiene and get a better night’s sleep
- The 7-Day Bedtime Challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/029
Get your free #TechTimeout Challenge 30 Day Digital Detox Guide
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why so many women are not taking their full annual leave entitlement each year
- Why women find themselves still working while on vacation
- The importance of taking regular holidays for your mental and physical health
- Barriers to taking regular time off, from low annual leave entitlement to busy work schedules and workplace cultures that expect you to be “always on”
- How a lack of trust in coworkers or failing to empower teams to manage work in your absence could be preventing you from switching off
- How to prioritise taking your full holiday entitlement each year
- The ideal holiday length for relaxation, according to research
- How to communicate that you’re taking time off and effectively delegate work to your team or coworkers
- Establishing boundaries with work and managing expectations around contact during time off
- Ditching work devices and switching off from work to maximise relaxation and enjoyment on holiday
- The Annual Leave Request Challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/028
Get your free #TechTimeout Challenge 30 Day Digital Detox Guide
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why balancing working and parenting is extra hard for mums during the summer holidays
- “Mum guilt” and the conflict between caring for your kids and performing well at work
- The importance of communication and transparency when juggling working from home with childcare
- How to create a structured schedule that keeps kids stimulated and entertained so that you can focus on work when you need to
- Ideas for creative time, outdoor play, educational activities, skill-based games, and physical tasks
- Involving your kids in work tasks to avoid feelings of resentment or rejection
- Screen time limits for children and ways you can maximise screen time quality and safe use of digital devices
- Leaning on the village and sharing childcare responsibilities with other parents
- The 1 Day Schedule Challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/027
Get your free #TechTimeout Challenge 30 Day Digital Detox Guide
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why you can’t always rely on GPS to send you the right way
- The hilarious story of Noel Santillan, aka The Lost Tourist, and how GPS led him astray during a bucket list trip to Iceland
- How using GPS technology frequently could be shrinking your brain
- Place cells, grid cells, and the science behind your “inner GPS” or how you navigate without GPS devices
- How to protect and preserve your natural wayfinding abilities
- The No GPS Challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/026
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- The phenomenon of AI hallucinations – false or misleading information that is presented as fact
- How and why AI hallucinations occur with platforms such as ChatGPT
- 6 hilarious and scary examples of ChatGPT hallucinations, including:
- Lying about how many people survived the sinking of the Titanic
- Fabricating scientific references to support the idea that cheese is bad for your health
- Writing a New York Times opinion piece about why mayonnaise is racist
- Making up a historical French King
- Writing a rave review for the ill-fated Fyre Festival
- Inventing a world record for man walking on water
- Why you should still fact-check ChatGPT’s responses, despite improvements in the AI’s accuracy
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/025
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why AI voice assistants are almost always female and how this perpetuates harmful gender stereotypes
- The reason tech companies struggle to create accurate male AI voice assistants and the future of AI voice technology
- 5 hilarious times that Amazon’s AI assistant, Alexa, has misbehaved, including:
- Recommending a dangerous challenge to a child
- Buying a $160 dollhouse (and cookies!)
- Allowing a parrot to make a purchase
- Misunderstanding a command and playing explicit content
- Throwing a late night party while its owner was out
- What you can learn from these cautionary tales and how to safeguard yourself against your own Alexa assistant going rogue
- The Alexa settings check-up challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/024
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- The rising trend of quitting social media
- The most common reasons for deciding to quit social media
- Why giving up social media is so hard
- The 7-step game plan to help you successfully quit social media, including:
- Understanding your personal “why” for quitting
- Defining what quitting means for you
- Deciding which social media platforms to quit
- Setting a realistic quit date
- Preparing yourself and your connections for your departure
- Removing social media from your life on quit day
- Living your best life without social media
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/023
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why everyone should consider doing a social media detox
- The benefits of taking a break from social media for your mental and emotional wellbeing
- How long a social media detox should be and how often you should take breaks from social platforms
- 5 action steps to successfully take a break from social media, including
- Choosing between a break from all social media or specific social media platforms/apps
- Deciding how long your social media detox will last
- Preparing yourself and your connections for your absence in advance
- Deleting social media apps and disabling notifications
- Finding alternative activities to occupy your time
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/021
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why everyone should actively curate their social media experience
- 6 practical tips to curating your social media experience, including
- Being authentic in posted content
- Switching off validation mechanisms
- Consciously reacting to other people’s content
- ‘Marie Kondo-ing’ your connections and subscriptions
- Enabling personalised ads or paying to avoid them
- Turning off unnecessary notifications
- 5 action steps to reduce the amount of time you spend on social media, including:
- Understanding your current social media use
- Setting realistic targets for social media screen time
- Establishing rules and boundaries for social media use
- Using physical and digital blocking tools
- Logging out of social media apps between sessions
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/021
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why choosing to quit or take a break from using social media is such a significant decision
- How your personal social media habits and online experience influence your decision
- The importance of time alone and away from social media
- How to tell when you need to take a break from social media
- The biological stress response to social media overexposure
- How to decide if you should quit, cut down, curate or take a break from social media
- The downloadable decision chart and important questions to ask yourself when deciding how you will use social media
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/020
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- How social media is making you more connected but less sociable by replacing your real life relationships with lower quality connections
- Your innate biological desire for social connection and why loneliness feels so uncomfortable
- The surprising impact of loneliness on your mental and physical health, and why we’re in the middle of a loneliness epidemic
- The important difference between loneliness and choosing to be alone
- Dunbar’s number and how many people your brain has the capacity to maintain stable social relationships with at any one time
- How relationships shift over time and significant life changes as you get older can create distance between you and your friends
- Why social media makes you feel closer to people than you actually are, and how this affects your perception of the number and quality of your relationships
- The difference between acquaintances and real friends – and how to spot the difference
- How to tell if you’re lonely and practical steps for tackling loneliness with, and without, using technology
- The conversation connection challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/019
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- The dramatic difference between how you behave online and how you behave offline
- How social exchange theory might explain why you are more extroverted online than you are in real life, and how innate reward and survival mechanisms cause you to overshare information about yourself on social media
- Why the way you use social media is feeding the algorithms and inadvertently creating the negative experiences you have online
- How social media is encouraging you to compete, instead of connect, with other people by prioritising features that promote ranking behaviours above linking behaviours
- The creation of echo chambers on social media that reinforce your existing world view and make you less tolerant of other people’s perspectives and opinions
- Why proper conversations are important for self-reflection and the development of empathy but declining thanks to social media eroding our willingness to socialise and driving us to stick to lighter topics in real life discussions
- How presenting a highly-curated version of yourself online and not allowing yourself to be vulnerable has made you less forgiving of other people’s mistakes and flaws
- The reason why negativity and negative emotions spread so quickly across social networks, even when there is no direct contact between users
- How social media offers you anonymity, invisibility, and asynchronicity that leads to a minimisation of authority online and a belief that there are no real life consequences for your online actions
- The reason social media algorithms amplify the worst human traits to grab your attention
- How to be kinder on social media and present the most authentic version of yourself
- The 7 day conscious, conversational, and constructive social media challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/018
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why research into the link between social media and mental health is flawed, and the reason that experts can’t agree whether social media is good or bad for you
- The dangers of skim reading misleading news headlines about the impact of social media on mental health
- Whether social media companies and national governments have a responsibility to protect us from the harmful effects of social media on our mental health
- The important difference between causation and correlation, when it comes to discussing mental health issues
- Why it’s difficult to measure the impact social media has on our mental health, and what data social media companies already have about the way their platforms negatively affect users
- The highly individualised nature of your experience on social media, and why you must take responsibility for curating a more positive experience for yourself
- What we know about the links between social media and changes in mood, depression, anxiety, suicide and self-harm, body image, and loneliness
- The reasons why social media might be making you feel depressed, anxious, self-conscious, or lonely, and what to do if you’re concerned about yourself or someone you know
- The definition of social media addiction and why it’s more than simply spending too much time online
- How social media provides a space for online communities and text-based support that can benefit your mental health
- My personal struggles with depression and anxiety, and how social media has both helped and hurt me
- The 7 day social media and mental health journalling challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/017
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why the answer to the question “how much time should I spend on social media?” is not a straightforward one
- Uncovering whether it’s yourself or others in your life who think that you are spending too much time online and what this means for your relationships
- Understanding the reasons you use social media and the distinctions between work and personal use, and temporary vs. permanent increases in screen time
- The importance of knowing how your social media use affects your mental and emotional health
- Deciding for yourself how much time you are comfortable spending on social media
- What the research says and expert recommendations for daily social media use
- The 7 day social media time audit challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/016
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- The reason you’re still going on social media, despite turning off all notifications, taking a digital detox break, or deleting your accounts
- The four happiness hormones – dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins – and how they work together to ensure the survival of the human race
- How social media mimics your real life experiences, affecting your natural levels and sources of these neurohormones
- The surprising connection between survival behaviours and pleasurable feelings, and why your brain has created internal triggers for going on social media
- The 7 day internal triggers challenge
View show notes including links to all the resources and tools mentioned: https://thedigitaldietcoach.com/015
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or LinkedIn
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- The methods social media platforms use to capture as much of your time and attention as possible
- Behavioural psychology and how we learn behaviours through classical conditioning because of interactions with our external environment
- How social media companies exploit behaviourism by using persuasive design features in their platforms to deliberately influence and change your behaviour
- The power of social media algorithms and how they use your individual behaviour to adapt and optimise themselves, so that social media becomes more addictive to you
- 6 persuasive design features and how they work together to keep you coming back to social media for increasingly long periods of time
- The 7 day "no notifications" challenge
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- Join the weekly challenge in The Digital Diet Lounge
- The Digital Diet – Episode 13: The Attention Economy: Understanding The Business & Currency Of Social Media
- The Digital Diet – Episode 12: Clickbait, Controversy & Cancel Culture: KSI & The Dark Side Of Social Media
- The Digital Diet – Episode 4: Dating In The Digital Age: How To Use Dating Apps Without Losing Your Mind
- Sheena Iyengar's TED Talk – How to make choosing easier
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Join the digital wellness community at The Digital Diet Lounge
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or Twitter @letsdigitaldiet
In this episode, I talk about:
- The birth of social media and how social media platforms are exponentially evolving
- Why social media platforms are a popular startup idea, despite huge competition
- The reason social media platforms are all launching similar features
- The attention economy aka the economy of distraction aka surveillance capitalism aka how social media platforms make their money
- The value of your time, attention, and behavioural data to social media platforms and the companies that advertise with them
- The reason social media users are products and not customers
- Why social media companies prioritise features that make you use their platforms for long periods of time, even if this is against your best interests
- The rise in social media subscription options and why this operating model might be preferable for both social media companies and users
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- The Digital Diet Lounge
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or Twitter @letsdigitaldiet
In this episode, I talk about:
- The role of social media in the rise and fall of KSI, a popular British YouTuber, rapper, boxer, and entrepreneur
- How influencers, brands, and media outlets make money through content creation as part of the attention economy
- Why clickbait headlines and controversial posts drive high views and engagement on social media
- How social media algorithms change our behaviour and amplify negative human traits to capture our attention
- Toxic comments, cancel culture, and how they affect our mental health
- Why we’re comfortable behaving more abusively online than we ever would in person
- Losing our capacity for empathy and compassion because of online interactions and echo chambers that reinforce our existing views
- How emotional states spread through social networks without the need for direct contact between users
- Conscious use of social media for a more positive experience
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- The Digital Diet Lounge
- Professor Sherry Turkle
- Professor Martin Hilbert
- What Is Emotional Contagion Theory? (Definition & Examples)
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or Twitter @letsdigitaldiet
In this episode, I talk about:
- Maximising opportunities to take a break from technology when you have time off work
- How remote working has increased your screen time and may be affecting your physical health more than you realise
- Our tendencies to ignore physical aches, pains, and strains until they become severe and to treat physical symptoms instead of preventing the root cause of our discomfort
- Why you should listen to what your body is telling you instead of relying on digital devices or health apps to tell you when something is wrong
- Technology-induced eye strain, Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS), and your employer’s legal obligations when it comes to eye tests and corrective eyewear
- How loud your headphones should be to prevent damage to your ears
- How to correctly set up your workspace to reduce the risk of debilitating back and neck pain
- The importance of making time for movement in your working day, to avoid conditions associated with a sedentary lifestyle, including obesity, poor circulation, heart disease and diabetes
- The physical body scan and action challenge
- The Digital Diet Lounge – a new virtual community for digital wellness and the best place to discuss podcast episodes and take part in weekly challenges
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- The Digital Diet Lounge
- The College of Optometrists Screen Use Guidance
- 6 Simple Ways To Check If Your Headphones Are Too Loud
- Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Workstation Checklist
- The Digital Diet – Episode 7: A Natural Remedy – How Exposure To Nature Can Help Restore Your Lost Focus
- The Digital Diet – Episode 9: Mastering Mindfulness – How A Simple Daily Practice Could Help Increase Your Attention Span
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or Twitter @letsdigitaldiet
In this episode, I talk about:
- The difference 1 hour can make when it comes to practising digital wellbeing
- Why digital detox “escapes” may not be the solution to your digital device obsession
- The remarkable Indian village of Vadgaon, where a daily digital detox law has been introduced and enforced since August 2022
- Whether Western countries could or should introduce their own daily digital detox laws
- The benefits of a daily digital detox for adults, children, and families
- The 1 hour daily digital detox challenge
- The Digital Diet Lounge – a new virtual community for digital wellness and the best place to discuss podcast episodes and take part in weekly challenges
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- The Digital Diet Lounge
- Maharashtra: India village goes offline daily to help people talk
- The Digital Diet – Episode 1: How to Maximise Your Willpower and Minimise Digital Distractions to Make Your New Year's Resolutions Stick
- The Digital Diet – Episode 6: Pay Attention! The Myth of Multitasking
- The Digital Diet – Episode 7: A Natural Remedy – How Exposure To Nature Can Help Restore Your Lost Focus
- The Digital Diet – Episode 8: Deep Reading – The Ultimate Brain Training To Improve Your Concentration?
- The Digital Diet – Episode 9: Mastering Mindfulness – How A Simple Daily Practice Could Help Increase Your Attention Span
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or Twitter @letsdigitaldiet
In this episode, I talk about:
- What mindfulness is and what it isn’t (clue: it’s not the same as meditation!)
- How mindfulness can build up your executive attention by promoting changes in the overall structure and function of your brain
- Scientific studies into the benefits of mindfulness for everyone from adults to children
- How the effects of mindfulness are linked to the duration and frequency of your mindfulness practice
- Setting realistic expectations and goals when starting a mindfulness practice
- 7 practical ways to practise mindfulness, plus two bonus methods
- The 7 day mindfulness challenge
- The Digital Diet Lounge – a new virtual community for digital wellness and the best place to discuss podcast episodes and take part in weekly challenges
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- The Digital Diet Lounge
- The Digital Diet – Episode 6: Pay Attention! The Myth of Multitasking
- The Digital Diet – Episode 7: A Natural Remedy – How Exposure To Nature Can Help Restore Your Lost Focus
- The Digital Diet – Episode 8: Deep Reading – The Ultimate Brain Training To Improve Your Concentration?
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn, Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach or Twitter @letsdigitaldiet
In this episode, I talk about:
- How digital distractions have turned even the most avid readers into casual readers
- What deep reading is and how it can boost your executive attention by training your brain to concentrate for long periods of time
- The paradox of requiring focus to engage in deep reading, in order to improve your overall capacity for focus
- The benefits of deep reading for other cognitive functions and its role in the development of key intellectual and emotional skills
- Why what you read is less important than how you’re reading it
- How the offline reading experience is different to the online reading experience, and why skim reading is causing you to develop cognitive impatience
- The possible impact on your personal and/or professional life from failing to maintain an ability to read longer, denser, or more difficult texts
- Whether you can engage in deep reading using e-readers such as the Kindle, and the effect of such devices on your ability to comprehend and retain what you read
- Practical steps you can take to cultivate a deep reading habit and restore your attention
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- The Digital Diet – Episode 6: Pay Attention! The Myth of Multitasking
- The Digital Diet – Episode 7: A Natural Remedy – How Exposure To Nature Can Help Restore Your Lost Focus
- Maryanne Wolf – Author, Cognitive Neuroscientist & Literacy Researcher
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedInor Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach
In this episode, I talk about:
- How constant multitasking and digital distractions have depleted your executive attention, making it difficult for you to concentrate for long periods of time
- The importance of working to actively build up your capacity for executive attention outside of specific focused tasks
- Why exposing yourself to nature can help restore your executive attention and the three theories that explain how this happens
- How long you need to be exposed to nature for, in order to experience improvements in your executive attention
- The types of nature that can be restorative for your executive attention and how to access them when stepping outside might be difficult or impractical
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- The Digital Diet – Episode 1: How to Maximise Your Willpower and Minimise Digital Distractions to Make Your New Year's Resolutions Stick
- The Digital Diet – Episode 6: Pay Attention! The Myth of Multitasking
- Lumie Alarm Clock
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach
In this episode, I talk about:
- The 3 types of human attention – alerting attention, orienting attention, and executive attention – and how they are impacted by your digital devices
- The role of executive attention in helping you to maintain focus, concentrate on tasks, and achieve your goals
- Why the mere presence of your smartphone is enough to distract your focus
- How often you switch tasks and the surprising number of times that you interrupt yourself
- The myth of multitasking and why it shouldn’t be considered a positive “skill”
- The negative impact of multitasking on your performance, work-life balance, mental health, memory, and emotional wellbeing
- Global attempts to tackle the rise in “distracted walking” as more people walk the streets while focusing on their phones
- 6 steps to managing your devices and optimising your digital workspace for maximum focus
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- Website blockers
- Freedom
- Blocksite
- Cold Turkey
- RescueTime
- Focus
- Simple Blocker
- Self Control
- LeechBlock
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach
In this episode, I talk about:
- What artificial intelligence (AI) is and the everyday products and services that it’s already a part of
- Why there has been a surge in conversations about AI and newer applications of the technology
- The reasons why you’re worried about AI, from losing control to losing your job
- The ethical issues associated with integrating AI into every part of society
- 3 ways to make the growth in AI work for you, rather than against you
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Show notes
- Why do employers make us jump through so many hoops to get a simple job? | ETHNICALLY SPEAKING 53
- Coded Bias (Netflix documentary)
- Barack Obama Deepfake Video
- Bing’s A.I. Chat: ‘I Want to Be Alive.’ (Kevin Roose for The New York Times [Transcript])
- Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot has said a lot of weird things. Here’s a list. (Tim Marcin for Mashable)
- ChatGPT
- Midjourney
- DALL-E 2
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why it’s impossible to ignore Valentine’s Day online and how love has been commercialised
- The reason you no longer know what you need from a partner and how social media has warped your expectations of what a relationship should look like
- The dangers of social stalking, judging prospects too quickly, and making assumptions about people based on what you see online
- How you create unnecessary anxiety when you try to avoid rejection by misrepresenting yourself
- Why your attention span isn’t what it used to be and how dating apps offer you too much choice, leading to choice overload
- The persuasive design features employed by modern dating apps to keep you using them instead of finding love in the real world
- Why your brain prefers cheap dopamine from a dating app to the dopamine you’d get from leaving your house to meet someone in real life
- 10 tips to help you get the most out of your dating app experience and meet someone instead of endlessly swiping
Resources and tools mentioned:
- The Digital Diet – Episode 1: How to Maximise Your Willpower and Minimise Digital Distractions to Make Your New Year's Resolutions Stick
- Sheena Iyengar's TED Talk – How to make choosing easier
- Thursday app
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why work-life balance is important, even if you love your job
- How failing to take holidays and regular breaks could literally be costing you your life
- Why prevention is better than cure when it comes to burnout
- How technology enables remote working but blurs the line between your work and personal space, causing you to work more than ever before
- The convenience and the curse of communications platforms like email, WhatsApp, Teams, and Slack
- How country laws, company culture, and the behaviour of your managers and peers is influencing your personal beliefs about work-life balance
- The subconscious message you send when you don’t prioritise your personal time
- Right to Disconnect laws and what they mean for you and your work
- The rise of the 4 day work week and other company policies to promote work-life balance and help employees switch off
- The importance of holding yourself accountable for maintaining work-life balance and protecting your wellbeing
- How to use technology in a way that optimises your working time and creates boundaries between your work and personal life, so that you can disconnect outside of working hours
Resources and tools mentioned:
- The Digital Diet – Episode 1: How to Maximise Your Willpower and Minimise Digital Distractions to Make Your New Year's Resolutions Stick
- Take Your Holiday Seriously – British Airways ad and YouGov Survey
- 4 Day Week Global
- AndCo (London Coworking Spaces)
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why a healthy diet, exercise and sleep are essential for losing weight
- The importance of establishing a baseline, being clear about your weight loss goals, and tools to help you measure and track your progress
- Why fad diets are thriving in the digital age but they never lead to long-term weight loss
- Using apps to track your diet and why you also need to record how your food makes you feel
- Avoiding the misinformation spread by self-styled fitness gurus online and who you should be talking to instead
- 3 tips to help you navigate the temptations of technology and stick to a balanced, sustainable diet
- The importance of moving your body and how living a sedentary lifestyle in the digital age can impact your physical health
- How social media encourages fad exercise programmes, diet supplements that make false promises, illegal access to prescription medicines, and filters that affect your perception of fitness
- Using smartphones and smart watches to measure your progress without succumbing to digital distractions
- How scheduling workouts can make you more likely to exercise when your willpower is running low
- Why the gym isn’t for everyone and how to use technology to find a workout that you love
- What happens when you sleep and why not getting enough sleep may be sabotaging your weight loss efforts
- Why using your digital devices before bedtime is a bad idea and sleeping with your smartphone is even worse
- Tips and tools to help you minimise your exposure to harmful blue light and get a better night’s sleep
Resources and tools mentioned:
Podcasts
- The Digital Diet – Episode 1: How to Maximise Your Willpower and Minimise Digital Distractions to Make Your New Year's Resolutions Stick
- The Joe Wicks Podcast – 28. Dr Matt Walker: Why we sleep
Books
- Why We Sleep by Matt Walker, PhD
Devices
- RENPHO Smart Scale
- Fitbit Inspire 3
- Apple Watch
- Samsung Gear/Galaxy
- Peloton
- Mirror
- Lumie Alarm Clock
- Bluetooth Under Pillow Speaker
- Anti-Blue Light Screen Protector
- driftTV
- Blue Light Blocking Glasses
Apps
- MyFitnessPal
- SWEAT
- Les Mills
- Nike Run Club
- ClassPass
- Calm
- Headspace
Websites
- The Body Coach TV
- Sarah Beth Yoga
- Meetup
- Eventbrite
- Matt Walker – Sleep Diplomat
- NXT Phase
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- Why we seem to have the same New Year's resolutions year after year
- Why we go all in on our goals during January but run out of steam by February
- What willpower is, how it works, and why scientists believe that it's a limited resource
- How you might be unintentionally sabotaging your willpower by wasting your energy on small or insignificant decisions
- Why your smartphone is the ultimate source of cheap dopamine and how this is affecting your willpower
- 5 ways to maximise your willpower so that you can stick to your New Year's resolutions and make progress towards your goals
Resources and tools mentioned:
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach
Music by FASSounds
In this episode, I talk about:
- What digital wellness is and why you need to prioritise it in your own life
- The concept of a balanced digital diet and why it's the most sustainable approach to digital wellbeing
- Why digital wellness is a personal, pro-active and ongoing practice, rather than a one-size-fits-all set of rules
- Why I started this podcast and the sorts of topics you can expect to hear about in future episodes
- What I do and who I help through my coaching practice over at The Digital Diet Coach
Keep in touch with me:
- Visit my website at thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Subscribe to my newsletter, Unplugged
- Email me at podcast@thedigitaldietcoach.com
- Connect with me on LinkedIn or Instagram @thedigitaldietcoach
Music by FASSounds