Howdy Freak ! Are you someone who spends most of your time in your smartphone, laptop or in social media platforms ? Are you creating a work imbalance and mental disturbance by devoting alot time in your social media platforms ? If yes, then this blog post is for you. In this post you will get a complete description about what digital detox is ? Why do we need digital detox ? The reasons and methods behind it and what are the major benefits and advantages of doing digital detox. So Lets Get Started !
Reading Time : 5 – 7 minutes
Table of Contents
1. What is Digital Detox ?
Digital Detox is a process to refrain or restrict yourself from digital devices. Devices such as using smartphones, tablets, laptops, computer, television and social media platforms. Breaking the terms into two. Digital signifies the digitally advanced equipment’s that we do use everyday and Detox means detoxification or purification. Digital Detoxification mainly focuses on real – life social interactions without distractions and deviations.
As you go ahead in this article you will come across several evidences. These evidences shows the drastic and downfall results about technology mediums. Without technology or social media platforms we are incomplete in today’s generation. I completely agree with this point. But only using them effectively may result you in great ways.
In Digital Detox process you have to limit or completely restrict from these electronic and social mediums for a fixed duration of time. Wondering will there be any benefits ? Definitely yes ! Digital Detox process do requires time, patience and determination. But it will prevent you from several of side effects from overusing gadgets and media platforms.
2. Reasons to do Digital Detox
So you might be thinking why to do digital detox ? Does it has any positive effects ? If yes, then what are they ?
Yes, Digital Detox does have many benefits and they are listed in this section. Its since 2009 that our technology has took a great curve. Each and everyone is carrying a smartphone, tablet or a laptop every time with them. I can assure that you are also one of them. If you get a high anxiety spike or a sudden depression, anger and worry when you are not able to find your phone for couple of minutes, then Freak you really need to deal with a proper digital detoxification process.
So here are few reasons / benefits that why you should start doing digital detox.
2.1. Improves your sleep cycle
There are several evidences regarding sleep cycle. It has been found that if you are using any smart devices before going to bed, your sleep cycle will be a disturbed one. In Global Pediatric Health Research it has been clearly found that children who use phones or gaming stations before going to sleep are profound to have lack of sleep and develop insomniac condition.
It’s not about the correct age. But if you are one of them who uses your digital devices very often in a span of 24 hours then you are very likely to get a disturbed sleep cycle.
Sleep and circadian functioning are essential to promoting good health. While it is recommended that young and midlife adults obtain 7 – 9 hours of sleep per night, 40 % of American adults report getting less than 7 hours of sleep per night on weeknights. Moreover, 38 % wake up feeling unrefreshed and 21% have difficulty falling asleep at least a few nights per week. Among young adults ages 19 – 29, 67% report not getting enough sleep to function properly.
Globally, digital consumers spent nearly 2.5 hours every day on social networks and messaging in 2019, according to Global Web Index’s Social Media Trends 2019 report.
I will highly recommend you to start doing digital detoxing if you are one of them.
2.2. Focus improvement / Stress management
The focus and attention towards any work you devote highly depends on your mental stability. Getting highly addictive towards digital environment disturbs mental state at a very high rate.
You might even get affected, anxious, angry or develop sentimental emotions scrolling down your social media posts. This is the reason why attention re-activeness is profound less in those who are highly addicted to digital environment.
American Psychological Association conducted a stress management campaign and found that a very high number of people who use social media often are in the higher risk of stress.
Either they have developed an anxiety syndrome, inferiority complex or suffering from lack of concentration. In a study it has been found that an average individual picks 67 times his / her phone in a day.
Also 60 % – 70 % of your daily stress busters are due to social media platforms. You scroll down your news feeds and your neuro-receptors cells starts to develop several emotions, sentiments, questionnaires and logic’s.
According to a study, the average US adult spends 38 minutes per day on Facebook. 16-24-year-olds spend an average of 3 hours a day on social media. Internet users spend an average of 2 hours and 22 minutes per day on social networking in 2019. The average daily time spent on social in 2018 was 142 minutes a day.
Are you among those ? If you are among those then you strictly need to practice digital detoxification. It will not only help you to improve your focus towards your work but also develop a high sense of concentration.
2.3. Work Life Balance
If you see the above mentioned reports properly then you will get a realization. I am not trying to scare you out but yes, you do need to follow digital detox process. Can you imagine if you spend this much time in digital environment or social media platforms, how will you able to balance your work and personal life ?
The simple answer is you won’t be able to manage. There will be continuous conflicts and backlogs. Managing work life and personal life has always been a tough scene. If you include your digital and social media life in between you will definitely force yourself to move in a back sheet.
A recent study, published in Computers in Human Behavior, compared state-by-state divorce rates to per-capita Facebook accounts. The study found a link between social media use and decreased marriage quality in every model analyzed. It also found that a 20% annual increase in Facebook enrollment was associated with a 2.18% to 4.32% increase in divorce rates. The study’s model from the individual survey results predicts that people that do not use social media are 11% happier in their marriages than people that are regularly use social media.
With smartphones and social media apps, it’s never been easier for dissatisfied spouses to look for a new relationship, get in contact with an ex, or seek out a fling. A whopping 30% of Tinder users are married. Sites like AshleyMadison.com even cater to married people looking for affairs – over 130 million people worldwide visit Ashley Madison each month.
Coming to work life, a recent study found that 84% of e-mail users keep their in-box open in the background at all times, with 70% of e-mails being opened within 6 seconds of receipt.
Can you imagine the time investment which digital media is consuming ?
2.4. Confidence Level
Before I discuss this topic with you I really want you to undergo few mentioned statistical points. It will give you a clear picture about social media usage.
Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. In 2020, an estimated 3.6 billion people were using social media worldwide, a number projected to increase to almost 4.41 billion in 2025.
The average time per day spent on social media varies greatly by country. Whilst U.S. users spent approximately one hour and 57 minutes using social media each day, the Philippines ranked first in terms of user engagement. The average time per day spent on social media in the country amounted to four hours and one minute, twice the amount of time spent by U.S. users.
Market leader Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion registered accounts and currently boasts approximately 2.5 billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social network worldwide. By comparison, photo-sharing app Instagram had one billion monthly active accounts. In June 2019, the most downloaded social networking apps in the Apple App Store included mobile messaging apps WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, as well as the ever-popular app version of Facebook.
Now you might be wondering What’s wrong with this data ? There is a big loophole of using social media platform. With so much investment of time you try to portray others characters, develop complexity, comparisons, and your brain wants to feed you with a different image everytime. This results a low confidence level and self esteem level in you.
This low self esteem might damage your personal life, career life, social life. Till the time you realize this, it becomes too late. I really want you to practice few techniques of digital detoxification so that you can regain you esteem and confidence level.
2.5. Unproductivity
If you have found any of the above aspects in yourself then its high time. Imagine how much time you waste everyday, every hour and every minute.
Using your digital devices and social platforms won’t look a big deal for you but when you will combine all the time which you have spent in one day you will realize how much unproductive time you have spent.
You could have done something productive at that time. Developed a hobby, read few books, competed your pending tasks, meditated, performed fitness activities. These all would have given you a great benefit.
According to TeamLease World of Work Report, an average of 2.35 hours is spent accessing social media at work every day and 13 per cent of the total productivity is lost owing to the social media indulgence alone.
Due to this factor you should try performing digital detoxification and increase your productivity rate.
2.6. Emotions
A 2018 University of Pennsylvania study found that reducing social media use to 30 minutes a day resulted in a significant reduction in levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, sleep problems, and FOMO.
You must be aware of this fact that visual contents affects you more than textual. When you scroll down your new feeds in social media platforms, you get a good amount of neural reactions. Reactions that affects your mood, anger, emotions, negative thoughts, jealously and comparison.
210 Million People Are Estimated To Suffer From Internet & Social Media Addictions. Internet and social media addictions continue to grow as our dependence on technology increases. Estimates posit that over 210 million people suffer from internet and social media addictions worldwide.
Of 719 individuals aged 14 to 24 years, 79% reported being exposed to suicide-related content through family, friends, and traditional news media such as newspapers, and 59% found such content through Internet sources. These information may pose a hazard for vulnerable groups by influencing decisions to die by suicide.
These addictions are the major reasons for suicidal thoughts, depression and violence. So before you develop the question that “why should I practice digital detox?“, do read the proven statistics.
I might have put you in dilemma after providing the data statistics. But don’t worry. For every problem there is a solution. It’s never too late to start to adopt a new practice. Start practicing the methods of digital detoxification and soon in a month you will start to feel better, see visible changes, increase your sleep cycle and productivity and get several benefits from it.
3. 8 effective methods to perform digital detox
3.1. Start developing a new hobby
To get rid of something you must engage your time in some other beneficial tasks. Develop a good hobby. It can either be painting, swimming, start with a gym, singing, dancing, reading books, stitching, playing a musical instrument or anything which you like. This will not only make you feel refreshed but also cut down that extra couple of hours which you spend on your digital devices. Trust me, developing a good hobby is always worth your time.
3.2. Unsubscribe / Mute your email subscriptions
Almost everyone gets several email notifications in a hour. What’s the big deal ? When you pick to check your mail you land surfing digital media platforms and browsing other applications. This not only waste your productivity but also hampers your mental status.
Try to minimize and mute email notifications that seems irrelevant to you. You can mute or unsubscribe promotion mails, food ordering mails, fashion mails, clothing brand mails and the type which you don’t need to focus at all. Keep a separate folder check for your company and important mails and be specific to that part. This way you will hear less notifications and spend less time in your digital devices.
3.3. Find a proper replacement
The more you spend time on your phone the more liable you are moving in a toxic phase. Try using alternatives or replacements. Replace your mobile alarm with alarm clock. Try to surf your emails, social media platforms in your PC. This way you will limit your time because it has been found that PC’s are not that much handy so people tend to spend less time with them. Try listening to your media songs in a separate iPod or mp3 player. The more you create replacement, the more you get away from your digital devices and more productive time you save for yourself.
3.4. Keep a tracking application
There are several of applications in play store or app store. Download one of the tracking and battery usage application. Suppose if you are using your phone for 3 hours per day, keep a track on all the applications and platforms you are using. Slowly keep an aim to curb the time duration for all. Reduce to 50 % time i.e. 1.5 hour in a week or two and similarly try reducing this time. Follow this method until and unless you reach to a minimum line i.e. using your phone only when its highly necessary.
3.5. Keep less application on your devices
Lesser application you keep on your phone or tablets, the more liable that you spend less time in your phone. Uninstall all the applications which you find of of no use. Mute the notifications for other unnecessary applications. Limit to only those applications which you think are extremely important for your everyday usage.
3.6. Get out from your virtual / digital world
The best way to get out of a bad habit is to keep your mind busy in some other tasks. Get out of your digital world. Go for a jogging, spend time with nature, meet your real life friends, play with your kids or children often, practice meditation or yoga’s, go for a long leisure walk.
This way you will stay away from your digital devices and also feel refreshed every-time. When you are performing this tip for digital detox do not sit ideal in a room. This way more negative thoughts are going to impact you. Move outside, take a walk, be with nature and you will be highly benefited.
3.7. Start using your grey-scale mode
You might find this tip a bit weird. But trust me it always works. Shift your phone from color mode to black and white or grey-scale mode. In every devices this feature is available.
Bright colors and colorful applications releases a significant amount of dopamine in your brain every-time. This creates a “good” feeling in your mind and you get highly addicted to these applications and devices.
3.8. Keep reminding yourself
Whenever you pick up your phone or tablet next time, remind yourself why you started to do digital detox. You can also place reminding wallpapers in your phone’s or tablet’s wallpaper. This way every time you pick your phone you will get reminded about it.
Also, you can keep your phone in switched off mode or flight mode during your work hours. When you try to switch it on, you will get reminded about your digital detox process.
It does not matters whether you are a teenager or adult. Digital detox is very essential for everyone in this generation. Try following the few methods to get rid out of digital addiction. Within few weeks you will see great results. It will boost your mental and physical ability and also keep you fresh all day. You will start to develop a positive attitude and soon get rid of you from digital and social media addiction.
4. FAQ’S
Digital Detox is a process to refrain or restrict yourself from digital devices. Devices such as using smartphones, tablets, laptops, computer, television and social media platforms. Digital Detoxification mainly focuses on real – life social interactions without distractions and deviations. In Digital Detox process you have to limit or completely restrict from these electronic and social mediums for a fixed duration of time.
Digital detox is an opportunity to reduce stress and focus more on interaction with others. And it can also help prevent addiction to tech devices. In addition, a digital detox provides time to experience nature, get physical exercise, and practice mindfulness
If you are a person who spends alot of his / her time in smart devices and social media platforms, then absolutely yes.
According to research from RescueTime, one of several apps for iOS and Android created to monitor phone use, people generally spend an average of three hours and 15 minutes on their phones every day, with the top 20% of smartphone users spending upwards of four and a half hours.
Smartphone addiction, sometimes colloquially known as “nomophobia” (fear of being without a mobile phone), is often fueled by an Internet overuse problem or Internet addiction disorder.
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