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| Will stay away from technology now mean staying away from your loved ones? |
In February, it was reported that Marc Benoit, the head of California-based internet marketing company Salesforce, had spent ten days at a French Polynesian resort to 'detox' his mind of digital devices.
It's an attainable dream for Marc Benoit or a small group of people to do a 'digital detox' by taking a few days away from modern phones, etc., but for most people, it's an impossible task, especially these days.
A digital detox requires you to put away almost all of your digital devices for several days, meaning no screens, no social media, and no video conferencing. The purpose of this digital detox is to reduce stress or anxiety in your mind and heart and reconnect with the real world around you. This intention is good.
Although it has not been scientifically proven that avoiding technology for a few days is really beneficial for us, this does not mean that the idea of a digital detox is dying, but it has become a big challenge.
However, meeting this challenge is much more difficult today than when the term was first coined in 2012.
Even in the year 2012, the cup motor and phone screen had become important and apart from social media, many other apps had also become a part of our lives in their early form. But even then, digital detox was child's play in those years compared to today. This is because our lives today are so intertwined with technology that it has become impossible to separate it. After shopping in a store, we pay by phone, we do all our office work on the computer, and we also use various apps to keep in touch with other people. Moreover, since the Corona epidemic, the connection between our life and technology has increased a lot.
The question arises that if we are thinking of digital detox in the year 2023, we don't understand where to start?
Experts say a digital detox is no longer possible for most people, even if it means running away to a remote desert without a phone for a few days.
"Technology is now a part of us, we bank through an app, read restaurant menus on our phones and even sweat it out with an exercise instructor," says Seattle-based consultant Emily Cherkin. Flow in front of. "Technology is so embedded in our lives that if we claim we're going to be 'phone free' for a week, we're actually setting ourselves up for failure."
As people become increasingly dependent on technology, a digital detox doesn't seem like a viable solution. But there are many other more practical ways to protect ourselves from the poison of technology, through which we can control our habits without completely abandoning technology.
Screen, screen, and then screen
People were already spending a lot of their time on technology, but due to the Corona epidemic, our 'screen time' has accelerated. There is no denying that people have been spending a lot of time in front of screens during the lockdown, especially to connect with other people. But now even though the lockdown is over and people are free to go out of their homes, this habit of ours has not ended.
A study conducted by the University of Leeds in the UK in 2022 found that 54% of British adults are now spending more time on screens than before the pandemic. Half of the people in this review looked at screens for 11 hours or more each day. 51 percent of people are now spending more time on screens than before the pandemic, while 27 percent said they are using more screens while at work.
This increase in screen time has also changed the way we communicate with each other and we are using digital means for our important relationships. We have created WhatsApp groups and communities for these connections and relationships, and where people used to meet their family members every two weeks for a meal, it has now been replaced by weekly 'Facetime calls'. Thus, Covid-19 has forced many of our communications to come into the digital realm. This means that a digital detox doesn't just mean that you stop 'chatting' with your boss or other office colleagues, the detox will also require you to be away from your nearest and dearest for a while. Also, cut ties.
As internet dating has become more popular over the years, the role of technology in making friendships has also become central, and of course, this trend has increased in the days of the pandemic.
The BBC has reviewed the statistics of the major online dating app 'Bumble', according to which its users have increased significantly since the year 2020. In the final days of 2021, about 15 percent of Bumble's 42 million users were looking for a friend. Thus, compared to last year, the number of these users had increased by ten percent. And then by the end of 2022, the number of men looking for friends on Bumble had increased by another 26 percent.
Chris Dancy, an expert who has reviewed more than 700 sensors, devices, and apps, said, "Call it good or bad, but for many people, technology has become a major means of communication. This is true of many children, parents, life partners, and friends. I feel bad saying this, but (it's true) people have now forgotten how to relate to each other without technology.'
A change in perspective
The 'hybrid' model of working from home a few days each week became almost universal during the pandemic and has continued in many countries after the pandemic has ended. Thus, in this era of hybrid work and hybrid relationships, the traditional idea of digital detox has also become obsolete and its implementation has become almost impossible.
A digital detox is often thought of as a technique that allows you to step away from screens for a few days to de-stress and reconnect with the real world around you. But now, compared to the past, people's way of life and technology have become so intertwined that they cannot be separated, so if we try to separate them today, it may be Our worries and anxiety may increase instead of decrease.
"I can't turn technology off because we're on screens for so many different reasons these days," says Sina Jonadi, senior lecturer in digital enterprise at the University of Teesside in the UK.
Sina Jonadi sees digital detox differently. He says that in Buddhism there is a theory of 'wishful attachment' which means that a person desires something because it will bring him happiness, but the reverse is the case with a digital detox. This is because when you step away from technology during a detox, your anxiety tends to increase rather than decrease.
Says Sena Jonadi, he works on his mindset rather than eliminating technology altogether. “I make sure that my use of technology is purposeful. Digital mindfulness may be a better strategy for some people than a complete detox, meaning less worry about ditching technology altogether and more thoughtful use of it.'
So instead of becoming addicted to technology, consumers can improve their lives with technology by becoming more digitally savvy, he says.
Even if people can't get away from screens entirely, focusing on certain types of technology can help them use technology more thoughtfully, experts say.
"I started using a lot of different tracking tools on my phone," says Amber Case, an anthropologist from the US state of Oregon, "and found that she was clicking on Instagram 80 times a day." So they downloaded a plug-in on their phones called 'One Second' which forces users to take a deep breath before opening and accessing apps on their phones. This plugin forces users to pause before logging on and keeps them from mindlessly opening apps or going into 'autopilot mode'.
Amber Case also suggests that we should also change the habit of constantly scrolling on the phone. This is why we should put our phones away from us when we really 'don't need them'.
People take a puff on their phone like you take a puff on a cigarette. They're actually trying to fill their free time with other people's thoughts. Instead, Amber Case says people should just sit back and stare into space and take a minute to think about themselves. Allow yourself to be bored or bored.
Experts say your goal shouldn't be to cut technology out of your life or stop it altogether, or stress out why you can't get rid of technology. People still need to send an email or remove a photo and other content from their phone screens, but people can now do so without having to wade through online content.
Dancy calls this approach 'gray detoxing', meaning neither completely white nor black. This means that you neither immerse yourself in technology nor abandon it completely. And there is not only one way to reach this goal, but you can take different methods in this regard.
Methods Dancy suggests include downloading an app or plug-in to your phone that lets you hide your preferences and get rid of irrelevant content on social media. Another way is to switch phones with someone else in your household, such as a husband and wife switching phones so that you can connect through each other's screens.
"Every weekend or weekend, I use my husband's phone and he uses mine." They answer each other's messages and listen to each other's favorite music.
"It's actually like being immersed in each other's lives, in other people's digital lives, and sometimes in their private lives as well."
Unless you're a billionaire, the 2012 detox method is probably outdated for you, but that doesn't mean we spend the rest of our lives mindlessly scrolling through our phones. Instead of stressing ourselves out by staying away from our phones for a week, we can spend our screen time properly, in line with our personal lives. We don't need to go to the French tourist destination 'Polynesian Resort' for ten days.