September 2020 / ChloeHarriets

A Digital Detox Day Reflection | What to do during a digital detox

Wednesday, 9 September 2020

A digital detox day reflection and what to do during a digital detox

Recently I decided to have a digital detox day. It's something I'd been meaning to do for years but never got around to, however, the Zoe Sugg digital detox campaign was what I needed to push me in the right direction.

I didn't go completely phone and laptop free, I decided I was allowed to watch Stranger Things with my boyfriend and enjoy dipping in out of an audiobook - but that social media was a no-no... To be completely honest, I did slip up, twice. I caught myself beginning to scroll twitter, and pressing the Instagram app but those 10 seconds, were a whole lot less than the hours that usually pass me by staring at the lives of strangers through my iPhone screen.

It was really lovely. My boyfriend and I had a lazy morning at home, I did some sewing for my Etsy store, we went for lunch and I didn't pause to snap a shot of our food for Instagram stories. We visited my mum, and I didn't find myself trying to both scroll and engage in conversation. I was present. We laughed and chatted and drank tea, and I didn't tell the internet about it. It was nice to be anonymous. We drove back, listening to Harry Potter on the way, I took in the story along with passing green fields and blue skies. We returned home and I got out my paints and fell back in love with one of my old hobbies - I painted watercolour strokes on a page and tried not to be too precious about the outcome. We cosied up and watched Stranger Things and I didn't miss out on the details because I was distracted by twitter. I felt free - and when I write this a day later I feel refreshed - excited about life, offline and online.

I can see that one day away from the small screen was the mental health day I didn't know I needed. Disconnecting gave me the chance to reconnect - with my family, my boyfriend and myself.

I won't be doing it all the time, because there's a reason I love the online world, both when it comes to consuming and creating content, but I am going to aim for a least once a month because it felt good for the soul.

I do however know how daunting a digital detox day can be, which is why I put off doing it for so long. I thought I'd share some ideas of what to do during a digital detox day, to ease you into the idea:

Activities for a digital detox day:

- Read: I'm always wanting to lose myself in a good book, it's something I always wish I had more time for. A digital detox day is a perfect excuse to catch up with some reading. If you're after some book recommendations, you can find my book-related blog posts here.

- Spend time with loved ones: You do that all the time already right? But I bet you don't do it without digital distractions. Catching up with loved ones without scrolling is a whole lot more special.

- Games: FYI, board games aren't just for Christmas time. A digital detox day is a perfect time to dust off the monopoly.

- Jigsaw Puzzles: The same goes for jigsaw puzzles. I love getting out a puzzle during the festive season, and there is absolutely no reason you can't spend your time puzzling all year round, and they will definitely keep you entertained during a digital detox.

- Go for Walk: I've said it a million times before on this blog. I bloody love going to for a walk. I find being outside in nature refreshing.

- Go for Bike Ride: Now personally, I won't be doing this one, because I'm not the most confident on a bike - my boyfriend, however, is obsessed with going for bike rides with his friends - so if you want a tech-free activity, bike rides could be the one.

- Drawing/painting: Growing up, drawing and painting were some of my favourite hobbies, as I've got older it's gotten a bit forgot, one of those things which get pushed aside because I don't have 'time' for it (still have time to play The Sims and scroll Instagram though). On my digital detox day, I spent a couple of hours rediscovering my love for painting, and I'm going to try to keep it up. Creativity is something to be rediscovered during a digital detox day.

- Pottery painting: A few years ago we went to centre parks (vlog here) and we did some pottery painting and it was my favourite part. It's something I've been meaning to do since, and a digital detox day is a perfect time to do this.

- Go for a Picnic: Sadly for those in the UK, this is kind of weather dependant. But who doesn't love taking there picnic blankets and sandwiches to the park?

- Clean/Organise: There's always cleaning and organising to be done, and although you might hate it, I find it pretty therapeutic, making it the perfect activity for a digital detox day.

- Fruit and veg picking: I'm not the only one who feels a bit envious when I see the pumpkin picking pictures on Instagram, am I?! a digital detox day is the perfect time to arrange to go picking.

Outfit Details:

Dress: M&S (old, similar linked) | Headband: Chloe Harriets Creates | Scrunchie (worn on the wrist): Chloe Harriets Creates | Necklace: Moonglow Sandals: New Look

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What I've Been Reading | 2020 Summer Books

Wednesday, 2 September 2020

What I've been reading, book pile - ya fiction, a monster calls and more book reviews - summer 2020

Today I thought I'd share some book reviews of all that I've been reading this Summer.
It's one for all of you bookworms out there - A little update on my pages I've been flicking through and my thoughts on them.

The Kissing Booth (1 & 2) by Beth Reekles

I read this on my kindle (hence the lack of book in the photos), after watching the Netflix film (and falling in love with it, obviously), I was excited to get stuck into it - I am a lover of YA fiction and high school romance. I ended up reading both books - The Kissing Booth and The Kissing Booth 2: Going the Distance - I sped through them, finding them to be a light easy read, but also I found the characters to be frustrating. There's no denying that I enjoyed the books, but I found them to romanticise quite a toxic relationship - which reading it as a 28-year-old woman I can recognise that but feel the 15-year-olds that these books are aimed at might not. They're perfect if you want a light-hearted read, that makes you feel young, but remember there's nothing romantic about an up and down, secret relationship, with a lack of communication as these books make it seem.

A Map from Here to There by Emery Lord

A Map from Here to There is the sequel to The Start of Me and You - However, I went into reading unaware of this (oops) and although I've read The Start of Me and You, it had been a while so I could have done with a little refresher on it. Although young adult fiction is usually my favourite genre - I found this one to be a little too much on the young side for me. A lot of the characters' worries revolved around choosing a college, and the impacts on that on her relationship alongside and juggling having schoolwork, a social life, and an internship, which isn't very relatable for me as a 28-year-old woman, however, if I read this at 17 I'm sure I would have felt differently about it. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it for some light reading - I love Emery Lord's style of writing, so if you also really enjoy YA fiction I'd recommend checking out some of her other books (my favourite is When We Collided and you can read my review on it here). It has the themes of friendship and mental health running throughout it which I really liked.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

I've never read anything like this before - it felt like a children's book, which is aimed at adults with deep themes but a simple yet, beautiful writing style. Being in the perspective of a child made it different from most of my usual reads. A Monster Calls is the story of a young boy, with a sick Mum, and who is having a tough time at school. A monster begins visiting him, the monster tells him stories as he tries to navigate his way through all that life throws at him. It's beautiful and touching.

We of the Forsaken World by Kiran Bhat (AD - Gifted)

We of the Foresaken World is not my usual style, but as I was offered a gifted opportunity with this book, I decided to give it a go, and I really enjoyed it. I found it to be a lot more intense than my usual read, and found myself completely swept up in it. I did find reading it took a lot of focus - it's not one to read with your mind elsewhere. We of the Forsaken World tells several stories of interesting characters from a future world, in different locations which all knit together. Each story is touching and gave me plenty to think about from stories about tribes, the impact of oil spills, the story of a one-armed woman and more. It shows a world, both so similar to ours, and completely different to everything we know. The characters felt relatable and a world away. It's unlike anything I've ever read before, and it's a book which took some time for me to digest. It explores environmental issues and humans stories. I really enjoyed this, if you're looking to read something which will get you thinking, this could be it.

Find Me by André Aciman

Find Me is the sequel to Call Me by Your Name. I really enjoyed reading it, it had the same beautiful style of writing as Call Me by Your Name (you can read my thoughts on that here) however, it felt very far removed from the original story and I enjoyed it much more when I stopped thinking of it as “Call Me by Your Name: 2” rather than it’s own thing. The book is split into three separate love stories. There aren’t individuals chapters beyond this, which at first I found frustrating but once I got used to not expecting chapters to end, I realised the format worked for this book. With each section, the location and the perspective changed. A first I found it difficult to grasp which character point of view I was reading from (especially in relation to Call Me by Your Name) but trying to figure that out, kept me hooked. Throughout the book, links were revealed. I found the writing style to be as beautiful as I had expected and I loved each individual love story. Just a warning, if you're reading for Elio and Oliver - they don't come into the story until much later.

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

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I did have a little impromptu blog break, so I've got a whole new pile of books to update you with my reviews on, so you can expect more book blog posts coming soon.