When touchscreens make us lose touch, it is time to make connections stronger than wifi! As the office is wherever you open your laptop, the lines between workspace and living space can get very blurry. Being constantly connected can easily become overwhelming.

Especially, in a remote office setting where all our work-life happens inside our screens, it can be very difficult to “unplug”. We feel the need to be constantly available and have so many tabs open on our screen, and in our minds that we neglect to be present with the people around us. This often leads to getting rather less than more done, feeling distracted, overwhelmed, and digitally fatigued.

Yet let’s face it, some of our best business ideas don’t happen in a meeting. They happen when our mind is free to wander and create.

The solution: Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for some time - including you and your team.

Under the motto “Disconnect to Reconnect” the scientific-based Digital Detox cycle teaches your team how to consciously disconnect from technology and meaningfully reconnect with the team behind the screen - and themselves.

In the first half of the workshop, you will get an interactive keynote presentation with insightful tasks about your own tech use, facts about the detrimental effects of our omnipresent technology, and the downsides of digital distraction in our (remote work) lives.

In the second half, we analyze these behaviors and learn what you can actively do to ‘own it’ rather than being owned by it, overcome bad tech habits, and how to switch off effectively.

To take your “reconnect” methods into action, we then use a gamified team-building tool based on the card game “iConnect - make connections stronger than wifi”. Created for everyone who prefers smiles over likes, we make water cooler moments when there is no water cooler.

With questions like “What is your favorite ice cream flavor?” and “Who would you swap lives with for a day?”, you skip the office small talk and spark entertaining yet meaningful conversations. They help your team to get to know each other outside of work and form team bonds that are stronger than wifi.

Attention! Side effects after attending this workshop may include: powerful team bonds, great conversations, recognizing facial expressions like smiles, and other scary human stuff.

About the Expert

Nini loves people, talking, and - also - her phone. What she doesn't like: People talking to their phones when they're with her. That's why she published her master thesis in Communication Science about "Phubbing - when touchscreens make us lose touch". After she handed in her thesis she went backpacking in Nicaragua where - ironically - her phone got stolen. This forced her to take her newly gained theory into practice and live a life off the grid.

She quickly realized how wonderful it is to depend on people again instead of technology. When she returned, she decided that it's time to focus on finding a solution instead of just talking about the problem. So she published articles, gave public talks around the world, and eventually created a conversion sparking card game to make real people more interesting than social media.

Under the motto “Disconnect to reconnect”, she now blends her scientific background as a Digital Detox expert with an entertaining workshop to teach remote teams how to effectively switch off their device and connect stronger than wifi with their team - and themselves.