digitaldeclutter

Digital Wish List

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This could be a wish list or simply a list of digital nagging tasks that I’m dumping here, maybe to say you are not alone thinking about them, or to get my affairs in order in power hour(s) as Gretchen Rubin says.

  1. Spend time reading and enjoying all my email newsletters with no guilt
  2. Unsubscribe from content I don’t read or enjoy or open.
  3. Clean up my following lists on Instagram and Twitter
  4. Upload all my mobile photos and fix that recent memory issue in my phone.
  5. Go through all items in my downloads folder and order them properly
  6. Go through documents in my OneDrive and clear it up.
  7. Read all my Kindle books and listen to all my audible books, or simply make peace with the idea that I will never read some of these books after all, as long as I am always interested in new books.
  8. GTD old tasks on my favorite to-do app Any.do, delete irrelevant tasks, and really decide the next action for each task that I decide to keep.

I found that most of these tasks can’t be done on phone. Unless apps are properly locked, we can get easily distracted and forget the original task we started. Moreover, no matter the phone model, phone screens are too small for focus. That’s why we rarely send important emails on phones.

For these tasks to happen, I need to dedicate some time for them. Maybe none of them will directly move my goals forward, I even could be using them as means of productive procrastination on my most meaningful goals.

On the other hand, getting through them would enhance my feeling of clarity, I will have easier and more searchable digital life, in addition to making sure that the important is distinctly saved from memory fading or trash.

Digital Wish List

Digital Accident

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Half asleep a few days ago, I accidentally set my favorite social media usage control app Appblock on strict mode for 150 hours instead of 150 minutes. That means I can only use my preset blocking profiles in their below designated times:

  • Instagram for 1 hour between 8:30pm and 10pm.
  • Netflix for 30 minutes.
  • No WhatsApp between 6pm and 8pm to guard my evenings.

Previously, I usually locked and unlocked those profiles, but not with the strict mode.

Best accident ever.

I will do it every week. The only adjustment I would make is allow some time for Instagram in the morning to post something.

Digital Accident

Saving Accountability

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Yesterday, I sent this text to my accountability partner:

“I bought a new Kindle book for the amount of 8.99$. I am letting you know as I plan not to buy to more books in the coming 90 days. If I do buy, however, I must tell you what I bought and how much I spent, even if it cost 0.99$ only. Please ask me about this in our weekly calls. Also note, I am not depriving myself since I still have my monthly audible credit to look forward to use.”

I once heard good advice from the author Ramit Sethi, that whenever you want a book just get it, because books are valuable and one idea in the book will be worth it. I love that advice, however, the accumulation of unread books in my Kindle library and also physical space is not making me feel that good. More is not better. This new accountability will make me think more before buying a new Kindle book and help me overcome my digital/knowledge hoarding habit.

I also need to save more money. I think the why of saving money is not super crystal to me yet, so I need to write my why to help me commit.

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Saving Accountability

Digital Habits-April 2021

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We’re almost halfway through the month and I have not set my new digital rules yet! These rules are based on my performance and pitfalls of last month.

  1. Every night I will block Instagram via strict mode option on Appblock for Andorid to protect my morning routine. I can use it after, for 10 minutes to post stuff I already created/captured. Morning inspiration is part of what I like to do especially promoting waking up early.
  2. I will only check Instagram after kids go to bed. I still check it at 8:30pm most days but what happens is that kids are sometimes still not asleep by then, and I get so excited to reply and engage that their bedtime drags even more.
  3. I will recommit to Instagram’s 1-hour limit.
  4. If I have an important conversation going in DMs, I either apologize and say I’d respond later or take it to web version on my laptop.
  5. I will block Gmail web version completely on my phone.

I will report back here at the beginning of May and fine-tune where necessary.

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Digital Habits-April 2021

Digital Habits Update-March 2021

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My new post digital declutter challenge life is not working as well as I intended it.

I still need to re-configure some stuff. I would be lying if I said I didn’t care about the engagement level of my stories or posts. I want my content to do well and reach people who will benefit from it. I am still attached to the outcome (rather than The Practice) which is highly challenging and algorithm-dependent. I still have the urge to check and post in the morning because I like inspiring my followers in such an important part of the day that I often speak about mastering, not just post in the evenings as I decided when I ended the challenge last month.

What’s been working:

  • Quiet no phone evenings are still working great after I get home from work.
  • No social media during working hours.
  • Committing to the time limit for social media most days.
  • No Facebook on phone.
Continue reading “Digital Habits Update-March 2021” →
Digital Habits Update-March 2021

Monthly Digital Hygiene- Feb 2021

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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:

Continue reading “Monthly Digital Hygiene- Feb 2021” →
Monthly Digital Hygiene- Feb 2021

My New Digital Rules

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As I’m preparing to end my digital declutter challenge I would like to share my social media  mission statement and digital rules below:

My social media mission statement (draft #1):

I am on social media to teach what I learn from books I read and self-development experiments I apply in my personal life. I want to inspire people and women in particular to love themselves and take care of themselves first through goal setting and building and tracking positive daily habits in order to be able to take care of the people in their lives and meet their responsibilities with energy and love.

Here are my new digital engagement rules after I finish my digital declutter challenge on Feb 15th. I will do maintenance for these rules by reviewing and tweaking them every month to better manage my time and attention.

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My New Digital Rules

Digital Declutter Challenge Update-Week 1

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I have started a month-long digital declutter challenge on January 1st 2021. This is my 2nd time so my hope is I have learned from some of the mistakes of my previous challenge that I did almost 2 years ago.

As advised by Cal Newport in his book Digital Minimalism and in his course with Scott H. Young Life of Focus these are the steps I followed.

Step 1: Divide the technologies used in personal life into the below:

  • Optional Technologies (as in being away from them would not get me into trouble): Facebook/Facebook page manager/ Facebook business suite/Instagram/ Netflix/ Twitter.
  • Mixed Technologies:
    • Whatsapp after working ours
    • Gmail: not using it might cause communication hang-ups but also it’s a key source of distraction for me.
    • Audible/Spotify: they are not mandatory of course but they are key source of learning for me. Please note work email is not part of the challenge as this challenge is about personal life technologies.
  • Mandatory Technologies:
    • Whatsapp- during working hours: used for work and meetings updates and also by kids’ school.

Step 2: Remove the optional technologies and set rules for the others:

On day -1 of the challenge I have created the following rules:

  1. Remove Facebook apps from my phone with plan not to check them all month.
  2. Remove Instagram and IGTV from phone with plan to check DMs and comments once a week  from laptop in order to avoid the “forbidden fruit” feeling.
  3. Remove Netflix from from phone and only watch it on big TV screen with family or one show episode if alone.
  4. Check Gmail once a day at a fixed time for 15 minutes
  5. Limit Whatsapp usage time and block it between 6pm and 9pm which is family/homework/bedtime routine time.


The Actual of Week 1:

  • Facebook: I needed to check a replay of a webinar on Facebook that  I subscribed to before starting this challenge so I opened facebook on web browser to watch it and wasn’t really the least interested to see what those red notifications were about. I’m also opening it temporarily for few days to follow up on a limited-time group for very useful decluttering challenge  where I saved the Facebook group link for direct access skipping newsfeed and can’t see any notification.
  • Instagram: 100% commitment, at the end f of week 1 I  spent 20 minutes checking and replying to DMs and comments on my posts through Facebook business suite on web which feels like an email manager without all the scrolling, Thanks to my friend Nadia for this idea.  I also set up auto-reply telling friends I’m away for the month with my email address, so I am not sure I’ll log in to Instagram next week. Confession: I asked a friend to tell me how many followers I got while she was already on her Instagram. It is worth mentioning, however, that  I felt relieved a bit of the commitment/pressure to post and engage regularly. I’m gaining back space and renewing my creative energy that I can use for other types of content that matter so much to me like my podcast and blog. 
  • Netflix: 100% commitment.
  • Gmail: 100% commitment but noticed that I prefer to check it right after lunch break not in the morning, as a transitional leisure time back to work. I noticed also that what really wastes time is what I actually click on in my gmail not gmail itself. Clicks takes me to so many places: shopping, reading, checking statistics of my content, and guess what? Instagram missed me and sent me an email update at the end of week 1 for the number of followers I got! feeling so threatened dear IG? that was funny, i didn’t even realize instagram sends emails, or actually most of us are not giving them the chance to. Back to gmail, I’m trying to be more mindful about not opening new links without reading those opened links in my tabs from the day before.  I might also consider feedly again, but not sure yet.
  • Whatsapp: What’s working: 6pm-9pm Whatsapp block is working so well for me. What’s not working yet:  I set out to use Whatsapp 45 minutes only but that was unreasonable compared to my previous behavior of 60-90 minute average so I tried 75 minutes but time was up by 2pm then I tried 90 minutes and time was up by 5:30pm. Then, I started experimenting  limited hourly Whatsapp time dividing 120 minutes by 14 waking hours (minus the 3 hours blocked), so I get around 8 minutes /hour and the app I use helps me track that so I’ll try this technique between 9am and 6pm and report back.

A funny cosmic incident happened in week 1. My smart watch galaxy e-fit-which was only allowed to show SMS/Whatsapp sender names notifications plus calls- stopped pairing with my phone! I guess/wish it is conspiring to help me in this challenge, I hope it’s a temp hiccup and that I don’t need to replace it. I’m happy it’s working fine as my steps tracker though.

Finally I am excited to report that I am enjoying my evening times the most with this challenge plus less kids’ homework load during January , so more fun time with kids. I’m putting them to bed then checking my Whatsapp which has become like a treat.

You can listen to this update in Arabic in episode 14 of my podcast below.

Digital Declutter Challenge Update-Week 1