Fuel: Recalibrate

Welcome to the final Fuel blog. Recalibrate is all about using technology for good and managing the online world's impact on our wellbeing. This page is your one-stop library for further reading/listening about the things we spoke about in your recent Fuel workshop in school.

If you like podcasts, this is a good place to start - 15 minutes of James and Molly's top tips for digital wellbeing.

Check out this Phase video on Mindfulness. In a world full of distraction, mindfulness is a wonderful skill to develop.

Here are some further thoughts on the top five tips we shared in your workshop:

1. Turn your device to greyscale. It's incredible to think that even the colours and icons on your home screen are designed to be addictive, but it's true. The good news is it's possible to combat this. You can turn on greyscale (aka black and white) mode on your phone in the settings. This makes it much less appealing to constantly check your phone and open up distracting apps.
2. Move your apps round your home screen. Apps are designed to be as easy to use as possible. Most actions on social media take just a few clicks or nothing but scrolling. Contrast this with tasks that are more important but less intuitive, and it's easy to see why we often choose to scroll as a means of procrastination. 'Hiding' certain apps by moving them from their usual location on your home screen can help give you a moment to pause instead of automatically opening up an app without even thinking.
3. Change your notification settings. Push notifications (the ones that appear on your lock screen or at the top of your home screen) are notifications sent to your phone by apps even when they're not actively in use. These notifications regularly draw you into opening the app. How often do you open an app to check a message and end up losing 20 minutes to something else? Moreover, disabling push notifications on certain apps will, over time, stop your brain from seeking validation from likes or messages every time you pick up your phone. A few minor adjustments to your notification settings will give you far greater control over when and how you engage with potentially distracting apps. For more information on the science behind addictive notifications, look up Variable Ratio Reinforcement Schedules.
4. Wear a watch (not a smart one)! A smart watch is basically just another screen and potentially another distraction. If you really like tracking your steps or activity, you can get sports watches that have these features in abundance without having access to any form of social media or messages from your phone.
5. Meet your needs in other ways:
   1. Disconnected - write a note, go for a walk with a friend, spend time with family.
   2. Bored - do a hobby or pick up a new one, complete an act of kindness, be comfortable with boredom, be creative!
   3. Validation - reflect on something you are proud of, remind yourself that you are a human being not a human doing (your value is inherent and infinite), ask someone at home how they would describe you.
   4. Escape - read a book, go outside, download a podcast, playlist or audiobook and listen to it offline.
   5. Control - make a list of three small things you can easily do today but have been putting off doing. Do them today. Brain dump using the control circles resource below (click the image to download).

Never miss a Phase blog post - subscribe here