Switching off during the holidays

August is usually the holiday month. And to be able to disconnect during the holidays, it is above all necessary to restructure our relationship with our mobile phones and notifications.

Since turning it off completely for the entire holiday seems like an impossible mission, here are some tips and resources to help you maintain good mental health and recharge your batteries during your days off.

First of all, Whatsapp. If you are one of the more than 30 million people across the country who use this instant messaging application, you should know that Whatsapp has launched a new update that includes ‘holiday mode’. This mode allows you to hide your archived chats.

Archive on WhatsApp lets you organize your private messages and prioritize important conversations. Your Archived chats will now remain archived and muted but you can always change them back! pic.twitter.com/QbAY6iu81p

— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) July 27, 2021

No notifications and annoying calls

Notifications can be a nightmare during the holidays. The most drastic option is to activate the ‘do not disturb’ mode on Android phones. This mode allows you to include exceptions for certain contacts, so you can at least receive messages from the people you share your holiday with.

If you are one of those people who still receive calls, you probably won’t be too happy about having to answer any queries from work, or any junk calls. This is where call forwarding comes in. You can forward calls to a colleague at work, but you can also forward them to a busy line, or restrict calls to certain numbers.

With no instant messaging, no incoming calls, no notifications to your work mailboxes, summer and holidays look different. But it’s up to you to keep these restrictions in place, or give in to the temptation to browse friends and family’ holidays on Instagram.