Another “beginning” I've been (re)exploring since January is a digital fresh start.
Background: In 2023, it became obvious I’m in need of grounding.
One lens through which I can view this is the medical model. As someone who has both ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder, it’s easy for me to “leave” my body/the earth and reside in my mind, where ideas or worries spiral on top of each other infinitely.
I’ve also begun viewing my tendency to become ungrounded through spiritual lenses.
For example, when learning about chakras, it became instantly obvious my root chakra needs the most work. When a person’s root chakra is blocked, they may feel ungrounded, unsafe, insecure, and prone to perpetual searching or grasping.
When learning about Ayurveda, it became instantly obvious my vata dosha is out of control. A person with excess vata is often full of ideas, but so scattered and overwhelmed that they can’t pick one and follow through.
I've long known that technology use can exacerbate ADHD and anxiety symptoms. But only recently, as I explored these new-to-me spiritualities, did I learn that some people believe technology addiction can stem from a blocked root chakra, and others believe social media use increases vata.
With all this in mind, I asked, how can I set up my phone in a way that keeps me grounded when I use it?
The first and most obvious answer was keep social media off of it. Forever.
The second was to reorganize my home screen, pictured above.
The calendar widget grounds me by making me aware of what day and date it is and by giving a visual representation of where I am in the month
The first weather widget grounds me with a cute gleaming dot of a visual representation of where I am in the day in relation to sunrise and sunset
The screentime widget grounds me by making me aware of how much time I’ve spent on my phone so far that day
The second weather widget grounds me by alerting me to the day’s weather and the weather to come
The four apps below the widgets also ground me. I use Fitbit to see how much sleep I got. Stardust* grounds me by showing where I am in my menstrual cycle. WeatherX gives me info about barometric pressure changes, which greatly impact me. And Seek is an app I use to identify plants, animals, and insects, something I’m trying to do often.
(I cropped the photo for space, but the rest of my homescreen is blank, aside from the four icons that sit on the bottom of every screen).
*If you’re looking for a menstrual cycle app, I cannot recommend Stardust enough. I should probably do an entire post on it sometime; it offers sooo much more than all the other menstrual cycle apps. It can help you cycle sync, it gives you info about hormonal changes throughout your cycle, it also contrasts your cycle with moon cycles, and it brings in information from Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine. Stardust also has one of the best data privacy policies around.
📱My lovely friend
recently had an essay published in Business Insider that you might like: I traded my iPhone for a ‘dumb phone.’ It’s made me a better mother and person.