Take an inventory of all the fast media you interact with. Look for the things below to help you identify all the apps, streaming platforms, websites, and online spaces designed to command and keep your attention:

• Intermittent Variable Rewards - Notifications that require you to check them to decide if the notification is important to you or not.

• Infinite Scroll - Feeds that have no end remove stopping cues that tell your brain it’s time to move on to something else.

• Autoplay - Videos that play automatically remove stopping cues and cause you to binge unintentionally.

• Algorithmic Content - Platforms that collect information on your device and app habits to show you what will keep you there longer.

• Streaks - Any app or platform that rewards you for showing up daily.

• Social Rewards - Likes, followers, comments, shares are all metrics designed to keep us on the app to keep track of our own - and others’ - online social currency.

Make plans to replace the time you spend consuming fast media with three things: slow media, creativity, and real world connection. Here are some ideas:

• Find 3 books to read. Use the Social Rejects Recommended Reading list to dive deeper into why you are taking the SLOW40 Challenge. Make reading part of your daily rhythms.

• Do something hands-on: drawing, writing letters, cooking, baking, cross-stitching, home improvement projects, organizing, playing an instrument... whatever you decide to do, prep the materials and make them visible and accessible so it doesn’t take a lot of effort to pick it up when you feel pulled to fast media.

• Choose 3 people you’re going to call instead of looking at social media.

• Schedule 3 meals with friends over the course of the 40 days.

• Create a tangible family photo book. Replace posting pictures of your life with printing and organizing them for your family to enjoy.

• Prepare yourself for the uncomfortable and awful feeling of being alone with your own thoughts or being next to a person without the option to escape into the online world.

Take control of your environment so your thoughts and actions are not dominated and driven by what’s waiting for you next in the online world.

• Delete all fast media apps from your phone. If you must access one for work or an absolute necessity over the next 40 days, download it from the app store and delete it as soon as you are done with the task you are using it for.

• Turn off all notifications except calls and texts.

• Create a place in your home where your phone stays when you are there. Do not let it be a Constant Companion that follows you from room to room. Turn the ringer on so you hear calls and texts. Do the same for your purse or bag, and do not compulsively reach for your phone in the car or out and about.

• Make your phone background boring - solid black - so it looks like a tool and not a personalized portal that draws your attention with a photo of your family.

• Tell people who need to know how to get ahold of you, and let them know you may not respond as quickly as you normally do.

• What will the first and last 30 minutes of your day look like? Choose your ideal routine and leave the online world out of it. Leave your phone in its place. Don’t take it to bed.

• Why are you doing this? Who will get more eye contact from you? Whom will you make both of your hands free for? What will you be able to do because of these changes? Spend time thinking about this. Talk to someone close to you about it and ask them to check in with you and hold you accountable.