It’s been 10 days since I ended my 45-day digital declutter challenge, so here is an update.

Good habits that I am keeping:

• No Whatsapp in the evenings
• No posting on or checking Instagram until my hourly window in the evening, after kids’ bedtime.
• 5 minutes daily for Gmail on desktop, mostly after lunch break.
• Netflix in evenings is on big screen only.

Blurry lines I need to think about:

• I have been using my phone more in February for creating posts on apps like Canva and for kids’ school-related communication. My January screen-time can’t even begin to compare to the current one of 7H40m which means I need to set a new screen-time normal. “Too much” screen-time has to mean something, like more than 7 hours or 8. Still not clear for me.
• I still have not figured out or tracked the time I need to create new content for my social media including the new one I joined, so sometimes I spend the hourly window in the evening creating stories/ posts instead of engaging with my tribe.
• I have not been committed to the hourly Whatsapp limit during work hours. I’m using it more than necessary.
• I have been interviewed a few times in February on TV and radio and I felt a need to promote those “LIVE” interviews in real time before I go in or after I finish. Although I know that most people who will follow me, if interested, will watch the replays I share later online. So I posted on my Whatsapp status, a feature I’ve been using more lately to share some updates and also used Facebook web version on my phone. It felt a bit like cheating my rules, so I may need to change those rules, question that need to share in real-time, or promote interviews more properly in advance. Going live doesn’t mean I need people to watch/listen on the spot. Maybe asking my family and close friends is enough.
• I have been using LinkedIn more to share my daily blog posts, so maybe I need to set up a daily limit for it and designated checking time just like Gmail.
  

As Cal Newport said, our digital rules should always be under maintenance after we end the challenge. We don’t want to go back to our previous state of mindless phone using.

I’ll do this practice and share it here on a monthly basis as part of my monthly review habit until I find myself committed to a sweet spot set of rules that aligns with my life.