There have been many articles written on the horrors of being consumed with technology. But lets face it, we love the information at our finger tips, making friends jealous with our vacation photos, and seeing the latest autotuned videos. However, there is something to be said for minimizing the stress that comes with constantly being plugged into technology.

Detoxing from digital overload doesn’t have to be a painful process or one that stunts your social life, there are 5 easy ways that you can detox and start feeling better.

Tech Free Zones or Times

Researchers from the University of Leeds in Britain found that the majority of heavy internet users were moderately to severely depressed, and lighter users weren’t. Part of the way to combat this is to create tech free zones or times. This can include making a pact with yourself to not use your smartphone on your way to work, not using it in the car, or choosing a few hours every day to be unplugged.

It is much easier said than done as many people claim that internet addiction is a real thing. Even those who don’t think it is a real disorder still realize that it’s a problem in modern life which can effect work and sleeping patterns. A good way to use tech free zones or times is to change the way technology is situated around you. You can use an alarm clock instead of a smartphone. This can keep you from spending too much time on your phone before you wake up and go to bed. I know I am guilty of getting into long arguments with an ex late at night and coming to work exhausted and angry, or in very rare cases, triumphant.

Finally, stop Facebooking at work! Well not completely, I’m not crazy. After completing a task, it can be a good reward to take a few minutes and catch up on Facebook. However, closing the tab and concentrating on your work helps you work more efficiently and keep your mind clear.

Scheduled Tech Times

This differs a bit from above because it is relying on the clock to tell you when to get on social media, read the news, and check email. It works best if you do it at a scheduled time every day or at least every week to start out with.

Pick a time that you can have be your tech free time, perhaps a few hours a day or more. Tell everyone who you communicate with regularly when this time is and when you will be available again. Yes, you will still miss out on bitstrips and cat memes, but you won’t be falling behind from work or much of your social life. In return, you will get much more time to be productive and relax and maybe remember what it was like before you had the internet.

Use Time Saving Tools

If you aren’t ready for a big change, and just would like to detox a little by using the internet less, use time saving tools.

A big improvement on the time I spend online is by using a social news reader like LikeHack along with a post scheduler like Buffer. Likehack allows me to find all the best stories without having to spend hours going through news feeds. I’m talking about the best autocorrect mistake images, the most annoying yet confusingly viral Buzzfeed posts, and anything else that will increase my engagement. Next, I can use Buffer to schedule posts of this content at specific times so I hit the peak hours and don’t annoy my friends by spamming the newsfeed.

Finally, there is Productivity Owl. I hate it. But it works so well. It is a Chrome extension that allows you to set certain pages for a self-destruct time. Lets say you spend too much time on Facebook and Youtube. Tell the productivity owl to cut off your time after 30 seconds or a minute. It sits in the bottom of your screen, just staring at you, and counting down the time. Once the time is up, he flies up to your tab and closes it. This is a great yet aggravating solution to keeping yourself from being distracted on these content heavy sites. Although this means you are still online, it allows you to be working which creates a lot less fatigue than with social and content heavy surfing.

Turn Off Apps

Some apps take up more time than others. Apps like Whatsapp, FB Messenger, and SnapChat can take up a lot of time and are a constant distraction because of notifications.

Go ahead and turn off your distracting apps during your work day and only turn them on during breaks and when you get off work or out of class. Or go the other route. After work go distraction free and find something else to fill your free time, you might be surprised what you find. Maybe you will realize your dream is to live in a isolated estate and become a cobbler, jus like Daniel Day Lewis did.

Tech Free Party

These are becoming popular all over the country. Tech free parties are a fun way to detox and it really isn’t too much of a struggle. Make a Facebook event ( the irony!) and invite your friends to have a tech free party on a saturday night. They have to check their phones at the door and talk with each other. This means two main things, no one will be able to fill awkward moments by pretending to be on their phone, and because of this, the alcohol consumption might go up. This will inspire real conversations and improve sociability IRL. Plus, at a party where the alcohol is flowing and no one is worried about their picture being taken, many interesting situations might develop.

Deciding to limit or go without digital gratification can be daunting. The hardest part, like most things, is the first step. However, you will find it’s actually easier than you think. To put it in perspective, think about when you’ve gone camping. Arriving at the campsite with no internet connection or TV seems like such a sacrifice. But, within a day you are having fun and forgetting about shows you want to watch or selfies you need to post. You realize that living without being constantly plugged in can actually add to your life and not take away from it.