Modern humans are surrounded by a constellation of electronic companions in our everyday lives – whether we’re tapping away at our smartphones, watching something on TV, or streaming something on our computers there’s a good chance that we’re spending our work and free time staring at a screen. With electronic gadgets of every sort having gained serious prominence in our lives, more and more people are beginning to ask if they could adopt a healthier lifestyle by embracing the occasional digital detox.
Everybody needs a digital detox, or a temporary break from digital experiences and gadgets, to keep sane in the 21st century. Here are the main reasons you need a digital detox, and how you can go about successfully embarking on one.
Tech addiction is very real
Anybody who isn’t living under a rock understands that most people now spend a bulk of their days surrounded by hardware and interacting with software. What fewer people have come to realize is that tech addiction – something often joked about or parodied in popular media – is a very real thing that’s impacting countless members of contemporary society. We are simply too interconnected, with social media platforms and digital news outlets constantly bombarding us with ceaseless updates and never-ending avalanches of information. What we need as a society is a way to relax, unwind, and take a digital detox that will unmoor us from this technical frenzy.
A digital detox is essentially as simple as it sounds – you’re simply taking a break from interacting with your favorite gadgets and gizmos for a while, allowing yourself to reconnect to the physical world we all inhabit. While some approach digital detoxes with a spiritual perspective, it’s also a health medical choice; scientific studies have warned about the perils of internet addiction and spending too much time in front of screens for years now. Even a simple, short digital detox may be all you need to reduce eye strain from overexposure to bright screens and blinking gadgets, for instance.
Some critics react to the idea of embarking on a digital detox with a laugh – how hard can it be to put your phone down for a while, anyway? As it turns out, taking a meaningful digital detox is actually much harder than most realize at first. A true digital detox will unmoor you from the digital world for at least one or two days, meaning you have to learn how to live without constant updates, email alerts, and text messages in a world that’s become totally accustomed to all of the above. Even something like ordering dinner may be fundamentally different if you can’t use your smartphone, so don’t fool yourself into thinking that a digital detox won’t necessitate any lifestyle changes, even in the short-term.
You need to seriously commit
The worst thing you can do if you’re interested in a digital detox is embark on one without actually committing to it. The web is chock-full of helpful guilds and handy steps to take if you’re struggling do to a digital detox without the fear of missing out, but what too few of these mention is that taking a digital detox is much more than just putting your digital presence on the backburner for a day or two. While it’s certainly acceptable to start your digital detox in small steps, it’s important to understand that you need to commit to the idea of living tech-free for a short period if you’re honestly interested in reaping the associated physical and mental benefits.
Taking a digital detox is about more than just helping your body recover from the negative consequences of overexposure to tech. It’s also about putting yourself into an introspective mental state where you can honestly assess the extent to which technology has infiltrated, made easier, and sometimes made more complicated your everyday life. Thus, while you may at first make use of interesting smartphone applications that track your digital usage and help you cut back on the time you spend using tech, it’s important to understand that a true digital detox involves taking a break from tech entirely.
This doesn’t mean you have to live in a cave and reject technology for the rest of your life by avoiding the help of a website design agency in business. Rather, it means embracing a day or two every week where you’ll use tech substantially less or even ignore it outright. Eventually, you’ll discover that putting your smartphone down for an entire day, weekend, or even week isn’t just relaxing but indeed liberating. Far too many of us are living lives restrained by tech addiction, incapable of enjoying everyday experiences because we think a digital detox is too daunting. As a matter of fact, however, everyone needs a digital detox to help realize the degree to which tech dominates their life, and in order to mitigate the more harmful effects of staring at a screen all day.