The Digital Detox Guide - August 2026
Why We shouldn't Make Everything Easier
Image credit: Mick Hall Photos
Are we gradually outsourcing our energy, attention and capability to technology?
Every time technology does something for us, there is a chance that we are giving up an opportunity to develop that ability for ourselves. Yet many of the things that make us healthier, happier and more resilient are deliberately difficult.
Perhaps that is exactly why they are worth doing.
🔎 In this issue:
The Comfort Zone is Comfortable for a Reason
Energy is Capability
Capability Is Built, Not Discovered
The Real World Is Waiting
Reflections on my 7.5 mile Ullswater swim
Your August Digital Detox Challenge
News Feature
And Finally …
The Comfort Zone is Comfortable for a Reason
Our comfort zone is a wonderful place, but nothing ever grows there.
It is easy to stick to what we know: the job we are good at, the things we have mastered and the expectations we know we can meet. Without realising it, we also absorb a multitude of cultural assumptions and habits without questioning them.
Technology can make things easier for us. But while we stay comfortable, the world keeps moving. Then, one day, we realise that the life we are living is not the one we once imagined.
But it does not have to be that way.
Stepping outside our comfort zone often requires a shift in mindset. One that values learning over perfection, and effort over ease. There is something deeply satisfying about setting ourselves a challenging personal goal, one that aligns with our sense of who we are, or who we wish to be.
And, of course, the ability to pursue any meaningful challenge depends on something fundamental: having the energy to do it.
Energy Is a Capability
When you woke up this morning, how did you feel?
Were you excited about the challenges ahead, what you might achieve and learn, the people you would meet or the problems you might solve?
Or did you reach for your smartphone, hoping it would provide some inspiration and motivation?
The thing about energy is that we often don’t notice when it slips away. Bit by bit, we adapt to feeling a little more tired and a little less focused until low energy feels normal.
As biological animals, our brains and bodies are one complex system. Without quality sleep, balanced nutrition and regular movement, it’s difficult to have the energy to perform at our best. Whether that’s in leadership, problem-solving and creativity or simply showing up with presence for the people around us.
So, if you find that your energy levels are sagging, then a bit of self-care and exercise can help to boost your reserves.
But here’s the real challenge: knowing is not the same as doing and too many organisations and people still see self-care as weakness.
In my talks I encourage people to reframe self-care as a strength. To adopt the mindset of an athlete so that they can show up at their best when it counts. Like athletes, they need good-quality sleep, a nutritious diet, exercise and plenty of rest and recovery, particularly from screens.
I also use the principle of progressive overload from exercise science to improve capability and function. These small shifts add up to more energy, focus and resilience.
Progress is not about doing everything at once. It is about building capacity and resilience, step by step.
And this principle applies far beyond energy and exercise.
Capability Is Built, Not Discovered
In 2016, I suffered a shoulder injury which, apart from being very painful, left me unable to swim.
As swimming was my go-to exercise, and something I was reasonably good at, I felt that I had lost something important in my life. Fortunately, after several visits to the osteopath, the pain became manageable, some flexibility was restored and I was able to get back into the swimming pool again.
After about six months of carefully managing what I lifted, I was swimming with only minor discomfort. By nine months ultrasound scans and X-rays had established the most likely cause of the problem, and it wasn’t going to get any better.
However, the medical specialist was surprised that I had full mobility in the shoulder and no pain, and although he offered some treatment options, I decided to manage my shoulder rather than have any medical intervention. He gave me his card so that I could contact him directly if anything was to change and I went on my way.
At the time of my injury, and for many years afterwards, the thought of swimming England’s longest lakes would have seemed impossible.
But slowly, the shoulder became stronger and over time, it was able to cope with the training required to rotate thousands upon thousands of times during epic long-distance swims.
In 2024, I achieved my dream of swimming the 11 miles of Lake Windermere end-to-end.
And in July this year, I completed the 7.5 miles of Lake Ullswater, both in the beautiful Lake District in Cumbria.
It’s interesting that making hundreds of small, incremental improvements over a long period of time can lead to some amazing outcomes.
It does not matter how good you are at something when you start, or, for that matter how old you are, if you invest in many small steps, you may be surprised where you end up.
Even if you don’t succeed, you will learn from the experience.
The most important thing is that you should never give up trying.
The Real World Is Waiting
Technology as a wonderful servant but a very poor master.
Perhaps the most important thing we can give ourselves today isn’t another productivity app or AI tool. It’s spending more time in the real world.
Learning practical skills, having conversations that aren’t interrupted by notifications, spending time in nature, creating something with our hands. Becoming just a little more capable than we were yesterday.
Our energy, resilience and confidence aren’t things we are simply born with or find. They are things that we have to continuously build, one small step at a time.
We live in an age where almost everything is designed to make life easier.
Yet many of the things that make us healthier, happier and more resilient are deliberately difficult.
Perhaps that’s exactly why they’re worth doing.
Reflections on my 7.5 mile Ullswater swim
My recent Ullswater swim left me with a few reflections which I would like to share:
· The experience of months of training is just as important as the final event.
· It doesn’t matter how well you prepare, there is always more that you could have done, so you have to be flexible and adapt to changes on the day.
· When the going gets really tough, remember why you are doing it and take one small step forward at a time.
· Perhaps most importantly, challenges help us grow and remind us that many of the limits we believe we have are, in fact, self-imposed.
The other highlight is that, thanks to the generosity of friends and organisations, I’ve raised just over £1,500 towards creating a new traditional orchard at Essex Wildlife Trust Abbotts Hall in Great Wigborough, Essex.1
This beautiful orchard will be planted with local heritage fruit-tree varieties, include a peaceful walking route, and will become a truly special place for people and wildlife.
Perhaps this is another example of why difficulty matters. The training was difficult, the swim was hard, but the rewards extend far beyond the moment of finishing.
Sometimes, the difficult things are the things that make us more capable of living the life we want.
Your August Digital Detox Challenge
The One-Hour Reclaim Challenge
On a recent webinar, I was asked: “How much should I reduce my screen time?”
My answer was simple: It depends.
Everyone’s use of technology and personal circumstances may be different. But a good place to start is to identify something you would really love to do but struggle to find time for.
Perhaps you would like to exercise, read, spend more time with friends or family, learn a new skill, or simply spend more time in nature.
It sounds simple, but it can be more effective than setting yourself an arbitrary target to reduce your screen time each day.
In a recent US study, 467 people turned their smartphones into what were effectively dumb phones for two weeks. They could still make calls and send texts, but they could no longer access the internet from their smartphones. They could still access the internet from their computers.2
Their average daily screen time fell from around 5¼ hours to 2 hours and 40 minutes. Interestingly, they also spent more time socialising in person, exercising and being in nature.
So here is your challenge:
How to create one extra hour of real-world time every day.
✅ Identify one activity you would genuinely love to do more often and commit to doing it for one hour. If the activity has a long term goal, like completing a sporting event or learning a new skill, even better.
✅ Ask yourself: What could I stop doing online to create that hour?
Perhaps it is scrolling through social media, checking the news, watching videos or simply reaching for your phone whenever you have a spare moment.
✅ Schedule your one hour activity in your calendar.
The goal isn’t to eliminate technology from your life. It is to make room for something else.
News Features
Digital Detox expert Colin Corby recently delivered a wellbeing webinar for Municipal Health Insurance Consortium based in the state of New York, USA.
Benefits manager Kaylie commented “We offer a wellness program for all our members, and to enhance our Digital Detox Challenge, we brought in Colin for a virtual webinar. He delivered engaging, research-backed insights on the impact of digital habits on health and wellness. His interactive approach encouraged self-reflection and left participants questioning their own screen use. We highly recommend him as a presenter on digital detox strategies.”
To learn more about Colin’s Digital Detox keynote talks, workshops and coaching programmes, please get in touch.
And Finally…
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About the Author
Colin Corby is a Digital Detox expert and coach, speaker, and writer helping people reclaim focus, energy, and balance in an always-on world. He has been guiding individuals and organisations since 2018 to build healthier, more intentional relationships with technology.
Learn more at thedigitaldetoxcoach.com.
[1] There’s still time to donate. Every contribution will help create a lasting place for people and wildlife. Support
Noah Castelo, Kostadin Kushlev, Adrian F Ward, Michael Esterman, Peter B Reiner, Blocking mobile internet on smartphones improves sustained attention, mental health, and subjective well-being, PNAS Nexus, Volume 4, Issue 2, February 2025, pgaf017, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf017