I keep a phone nearby (usually in my bag—never a pocket) for emergencies, but it's never been a smartphone. And my e-mail is set for manual updates only, which I refuse to refresh for days at a time. These principles stop the entire world from keeping me at their beck and call. I'm almost always happy to talk with people, but I'd prefer it to be in person. When the phone company screwed up an installation and took a fortnight to fix it, hardly anyone noticed for the first week. Facetime conversations stopped but most regular contact went on as normal, actually face-to-face.

When I'm online, I avoid bitty stuff—doing a bunch of inconsequential things feels more tiring to me than doing one or two more-involved things well. And, since I have to spend a good chunk of the day at a screen, I'll grab any opportunity to get up and move around. As others have said, exercise is great for the mind. So, remote conversations, watching videos, etc, usually involve walking around in figures of eight (to prevent dizziness).

Outside contact is good, but it should enhance your life. A better experience doesn't have to mean less of that interaction; as with most things, it's a sense of control that you should aim for. But if taking control means stepping away, and tiredness is a constraint, you could try something simple, repetitive, yet constructive. My mum finally got me into knitting after years of telling me how relaxing she finds it. She's right. It requires just enough focus to block other thoughts, but is easy enough to be an anytime activity, and it's completely interruptible. Plus, you get a cool jumper or hat at the end, or you can just unravel it all and make something else.

This hasn't just been one long recruitment post for Knitting Club. You don't have to join. (But, seriously, you should.)