Digital detox in the corporate context sounds contradictory at first. For a long time, wasn't everything designed to drive digitalization, keep technology up to date and be connected at all times? That is indeed the case - and as usual, the dose makes the poison. Digital detox is not a contradiction to digitalization, but the logical consequence.
The most important information on digital detox in the company
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Digital detox describes a longer break from digital devices, social media, messengers and other digital options.
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In a company that works a lot with digital devices, it is difficult to take such a break.
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Nevertheless, there are procedures and strategies that limit the permanent stress caused by constant availability.
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It is up to the company to maintain a clear separation between free time and working time.
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Companies can and should prohibit the use of social networks during working hours unless they are necessary for the work itself.
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Certain time allocations, streamlining meetings and streamlining the range of apps and programs can minimize the constant interruptions in the daily routine.
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Employers can create a corporate culture in which there are spaces and times without cell phone use. This allows colleagues to interact with each other and relax offline during breaks.
Definition: What exactly is a digital detox?
Digital detox describes a detox from digital devices and services. If someone deactivates their social media accounts for a while, this is a digital detox. Switching off your smartphone over the weekend or on vacation is also part of it.
You refocus on what is important: the here and now, the people you are with. Detoxing from online life keeps emails, messages, notifications and reactions on social media away from us. For many people, this decision has a decelerating effect. It brings online and offline life back into a healthier balance.
Why digital detox in the company?
People who work at a computer all day cannot simply turn off their work phone and cut their internet connection. So digital detox is more complicated here, but it still works. It has to, because the rapidly advancing technology is not only accompanied by blessings: when the internet became widespread and most people had smartphones, millennials adapted to modern circumstances. For them, work-life blending - the blurring of work and leisure - was normal.
They were prepared to work evenings or weekends for leisure time during the day. Smartphones and low-cost contracts for telephony and internet ensured that they were constantly available. On the one hand, this increased the flexibility of work, but on the other, it was almost impossible to switch off. Members of Generation Z have therefore already reorganized their priorities: for them, the strict separation of work and leisure time is desirable. This is because they are aware of the negative effects of constant accessibility.
Health impairments due to digital technologies
The constant use of digital media exposes us to numerous stimuli. This leads to negative effects:
- We are constantly distracted - whether it's because a messenger notifies us, because the computer shows us an email or because we see an interesting headline when we open a new tab and briefly lose focus. These small interruptions are the biggest time wasters in everyday working life. We need several minutes each time before we can concentrate on the task at hand again. It's exhausting, our work suffers as a result - and so does our satisfaction.
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We are always trying to work on several tasks at the same time, which means we miss out on all of them and our stress levels increase.
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In our free time, we receive and read messages from work and worry about them, so we can't really relax.
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At the same time, the fear of missing out increases if we put our smartphone down - we can develop an addiction.
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For some people, social interaction suffers as a result of predominantly digital communication at work.
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The constant sensory overload leads to sleep problems for some people, which in turn results in fatigue and tension.
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Long-term stress reactions that put a strain on the cardiovascular system are possible.
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The traces we leave behind online (e.g. when logging in and out of our work computer and in the programs we use) can be used to monitor the way we work - which puts some people under a lot of pressure.
The stress caused by the combination of these points can lead to burnout - which, depending on its severity, can be accompanied by depression and long periods of absence.
Working online can also have very specific physical effects: If we sit for too long without moving, this can lead to postural damage, tension, back pain and headaches.
These are all negative effects of the technologies we surround ourselves with and work with every day. Digital detox can counteract these risks.
Various approaches for digital detox in the company
Employers have become aware of the dangers of permanent accessibility - partly because many younger professionals are aware of this and insist on protection. As they have the upper hand in the labor market, entrepreneurs are forced to think about this.
Ironically, it was some of the online giants such as SAP and Google that hired the first mindfulness trainers for their workforces. These help employees to implement a low digital lifestyle and focus. In smaller companies, however, there are still different concepts and approaches. There are certain guidelines to help create time-outs for employees from digital devices and constant accessibility.
Time management
With this concept, employees themselves are asked to adhere to certain times during which they focus exclusively on the task at hand. This could be half an hour, for example, during which they are not allowed to look at their smartphone or check their emails. Another option is to check whether any messages have arrived after completing a task.
The idea is that employees are not disturbed by a message in the middle of their thoughts, answer it “only briefly”, lose their focus and take much longer to complete the task than would actually be necessary. Even if the task itself takes longer, the thought that you can at least check your emails once every half hour should have a calming effect and promote concentration.
Clear rules for social media
Anyone working as a social media manager must be active on social media for the job - but only on the company's accounts, not their own. Anyone who is involved in other tasks has no business being on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and the like during working hours. You should communicate this clearly - ideally it should be in your employment contract.
Taking a quick look at your accounts is not only a huge time waster, it also encourages you to take another quick look at your account whenever an interaction is taking place. This is pure poison for concentration. You can block the use of pages and apps on work devices.
Apps and programs
Many people find it difficult to take responsibility for keeping to their digital break times. Certain programs or apps that do not allow emails, messages or calls to pass through at preset times can help them.
Strict rules for the end of the working day
Companies are helping their employees to establish a better work-life balance by issuing strict rules prohibiting contact after work. Of course, this does not refer to private contacts between friendly colleagues, but to contact in the work context.
So if someone from the team management has come up with an elaborate concept at the weekend, the email to the employees may only be sent on Monday morning during working hours. Otherwise, there is a risk that the new information will interfere with employees' relaxation during their free time.
Lunch breaks without digital devices
Employers cannot dictate to their employees how they should spend their break times. However, they can encourage them to do so and suggest that they spend part of their break taking a walk to get some exercise and air.
This will prevent postural damage and pain caused by sitting for long periods. If you also switch off your cell phone, you can let your thoughts run free for once.
Cell phone-free rooms
Many companies have a coffee kitchen or a lounge for break times. Employers can designate them as cell phone-free rooms and thus ensure that employees use the time here to exchange ideas with colleagues, talk about work or make appointments. This is particularly helpful in companies where employees otherwise see each other primarily in digital meetings.
Training in digital detox
Employers can organize seminars, training courses or coaching sessions for their employees in which they learn strategies on how to limit their availability and organize their digital communication more tightly at work and at home.
Basic things are then given as homework for the participants, such as
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unsubscribing from email newsletters
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switching off push messages
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deleting unused apps
Important: It is always a good sign if managers adhere to the procedures they have learned so that they set a good example for their employees.
Keep the topic in focus
Inform your employees in a coaching session about the serious physical and mental health effects of digital overload. Encourage them to discuss the topic and share good tips with each other. Digital detox challenges are also possible - perhaps colleagues would like to give up social media on certain days.
One person in the company should also be known as a point of contact for problems with stress - however, relevant coaching or training is required for this position. This way, you make it clear that you take the issue seriously and are ready to help at any time.
Identifying and eliminating digital traps
Particularly during the pandemic, companies have increasingly relied on communication methods that did not exist before. The aim was to open up channels as quickly as possible that would enable collaboration even at a distance. Since then, however, many companies have had an oversupply of communication methods. There may be a constant noise here or a small window popping up there - attention is constantly being diverted to another channel and the person being contacted always loses focus.
To eliminate this unnecessary workload, you should take stock:
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Which channels are currently being used?
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Which of them are actually superfluous because the range of functions is the same?
Decide on the necessary options and instruct your employees to uninstall all other messengers and programs.
Streamline meetings
The vast majority of meetings in companies are superfluous. Yes, especially in remote teams, it is important to keep each other up to date and to briefly see each other's faces in video calls. But there is a fine line between too much and too little.
Set a maximum time limit for all meetings. Also limit the time of individual speeches so that everyone knows they have to be brief. Cancel daily team meetings if they are not absolutely necessary.
These appointments, which break up the daily work routine, are very disruptive to the flow: You often have to interrupt a task for them or you have idle time because you've just finished something and don't want to start anything new before the meeting. You then check your emails or take notes. By the time you resume the task, a lot of valuable time has passed.
Conclusion: Digital detox in the company - the slimmed-down version
Nobody in a modern company can do without their laptop, computer, tablet or work phone - just as they can't do without apps that make work easier, streamline it or make it possible in the first place. Accordingly, what is called a digital detox in the company is not really a detox from digital devices.
The measures you can take in the company are those for the considered use of technology: by streamlining the oversupply, by banning social media, by well-considered time management and by blocking messages or calls, you ensure that your employees can concentrate on their tasks as well as possible.
Breaks are also important and should ideally not be spent at the computer or with a cell phone in hand. Conversations and interactions with colleagues, perhaps going out for a meal together or a walk, help you switch off during breaks and lift your mood. If possible, create a working environment in which such behavioral patterns are encouraged and make sure that the end of the day actually means the end of the day.
