Lessons from our Digital Detox

no-phones2.jpg

Less screentime.
More sunshine.

Following Mental Health Awareness Week, our entire team took some time off to recharge the batteries. While we were sat around the campfire at Camp Roarsome, we discussed our brand ethos of ‘less screentime, more sunshine’ and how we could be better at applying this to our own lifestyles, rather than just our customer’s.

Screentime is heavily linked to increasing levels of anxiety and depression yet most people (including us!) continue to spend all week glued to smart phones and computers! How can we build the lifestyle that we want our kids to live, if we aren’t leading by example?

Here’s some initiatives that we will be implementing into our company culture, to help ensure that our staff spend more time outdoors:

  1. Take Meetings Outside

Whenever we can, we need to make the effort to host meetings outdoors. Instead of travelling into town and sitting in a dark meeting room, why not split the distance and meet for a walk? Or even better, arrange a fun outdoor activity like tennis, golf or even wild swimming! Notes can be taken by a good old fashioned pad and pencil or a voice recording. As long as tasks are completed and actions are delegated, why does it matter where that work gets done?

2. More Phone Calls

It seems that we have forgotten how to use a phone. If you need something or need someone, call them. Less emails, less WhatsApp, less zoom calls = less screen time.

3. More #BusLife

Our bus stays get everyone on our team outdoors. More buses, more bus stays, more time outdoors. We’re going to buy more buses and when there are free gaps in the diary we’re going to organise more team away days with less screens and more campfire chats.

4. Half Day Fridays

Barely anything get’s done in any office on a Friday afternoon anyway, so from now on, we’ll be giving all staff the afternoon off. Our thinking is that this should help improve productivity and decrease procrastination for the rest of the week, and ultimately swap screentime with more time to enjoy bigger/better/longer outdoor weekend adventures.

We can almost guarantee that these simple changes to our work routine will help protect the team’s mental health and encourage us all to live healthier lifestyles.

If you’ve seen any other good initiatives for reducing screen time and improving mental health at work then drop us an email and let us know!

Will Chapman