For Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2024 (26th February-3rd March), I am asking for your sponsorship as I give up my smartphone and smart watch for the entirety of February!

So why did I choose this particular thing to give up? The reasons are a few.

First of all: attention! It's a bit of an odd thing to do, and stands out from my prior fundraising in which I gave up drinking for a month. In relation to that, giving up alcohol was difficult, yes, but I wasn't giving up something that I use day in, day out. Hopefully my potential sponsors understanding how much trickier it will be for me to give up my phone will encourage them to donate!

Secondly, for my own personal wellbeing. I had been thinking for a while that I spend too long on my phone, and wanted to do a "dopamine detox". As much as technology can be a wonderful tool for education and community, doomscrolling, quick dopamine hits from apps like TikTok, and constant information can be detrimental to someone's mental health, and certainly have been to mine before. I'm hoping that stepping back from being constantly connected will give my brain a breather, and show me that even when I get my smartphone back I don't have to be checking my notifications constantly.

And thirdly, I wanted to draw attention to the relationship between smartphones, both the being able to be constantly online and the culture of selfies and filters, and eating disorders. Children today are facing greater pressures than ever to present a "perfect" image online. For example, many filters on TikTok and Snapchat, even those supposedly not about so-called "beauty", automatically widen the eyes, slim the face and jaw, and lengthen the neck. I will be sharing articles about these problems and others throughout the month.

Disclaimer: I have called my fundraising "Foneless February" for the fun alliteration and text speak, but I will not be truly phoneless. I have put my sim in a Nokia 1209 rh-105, which is capable of texts, calls, holding contacts, and, of course, playing Snake on. I will also still be accessing the internet on my laptop in the mornings and evenings. This is because I believe trying to stop my entire interaction with technology is unnecessary and also puts me at risk of isolating myself and damaging my mental health. Furthemore, I may need to contact someone in an emergency. I make this disclaimer just so that potential sponsors are aware and do not feel I misled them.

Thank you so much for reading! Please make a donation if you are able, but if not, that's fine too: please share instead! Every single engagement helps so I really appreciate it.

I will be keeping this page updated with how it's going! Wish me luck!

All my love,

Caitlin