Digital detox is becoming essential in today’s notification-filled world. So today’s blog will be around digital detox , its benefits, and how to do it. Before starting, let me take you through the word digital detox. What does it actually mean? We know that anything that is intoxicated needs to detox, hence it is necessary to understand how digital intoxication works, what it is, and how does this hamper our day-to-day productivity.
The Hidden Effects of Digital Intoxication
Well all know that we are living in 21st century also known as Tech era or digital transformation period, this is the time when most of the things will be digital, either it is study or learning any new skills, from ticket booking to communicating information from one corner of world to another everything is happening digitally and it is helping us to do the things quickly without wasting much of natural resources in transportation and infrastructure, but there is this thing that nothing is free everything has its pros and cons.
The pros of digital world we are well aware of but let me throw some light on it’s cons, this cons of digital era is very subtle almost invisible but it has immense effect on us, it can affect us both physically and mentally if not used with smartness, when we talk about the physical problems which can arises are: poor eyesight, haunch back, bad posture and bad sleep cycle, but along with these physical danger this digital world brings lots of mental danger few of these are, constant alert mode and panic, random disturbance due to notifications, heightened attention-deficit symptoms, impaired emotional and social intelligence, technology addiction, social isolation, impaired brain development, and disrupted sleep few more of them are comparison trap, validation trap, it provokes our mind to get things quicker which may sometime cause panic and impatience, too much dependency can paralyze our thinking ability and may make us too much dependent on it.
These things leave an imprint on our mind and slow down its function at a very micro level, which is not noticeable at the initial stage, but in the long term, it can reduce our productivity and the quality of life. The intoxication caused by media intake in terms of image, videos, words, etc., is referred to as digital intoxication.
Is All Media Consumption Harmful?
Absolutely not how can this be true, we are moving toward digital era for the good and the intention is also to make the world more productive, agile and well connected, hence this is not right to say that the digital era in general is not good for us rather we can put it like this, the excess or misuse of the resources are dangerous, getting too much involved in it is dangerous, completely forgetting the real world and making this virtual world our new place to live is dangerous, when I say making this virtual world our place to live, I simply mean that physically we are here in our true physical world but mentally most of the time we are in our virtual world, we are always occupied with the thoughts that what is going on Instagram, how much likes did your story or post got, the constant checking of phone for every notification never let you unhinge from the virtual world.
If you are not unhinged to the digital/virtual world, you are not truly into the physical world, and the point to be noted is that our body and mind in not made up of virtual world but physical world, our body and mind is the unique combination of almost all the elements available in our universe, hence for better function it must be connected to it’s origin. Hence, using technology for your work in a judicial way is very important to strike a balance between both the virtual and physical life. We can not completely ignore technology, nor should we, because it is like a very powerful companion that can get things done in the fastest possible way, but it is very important not to let it be your life; it can be an important part of your life, like a helping hand.
Why Balance Between Digital and Physical Life Matters
Excessive media and technology use can have a negative impact. This is where the role of digital detox comes into picture, first we will understand what digital detox is, so basically getting rid of all the digital notifications, disturbances, or the imprint which it leaves on our mind throughout the day is called Digital detox. Experts on the Cal Newport Official Website frequently discuss digital minimalism and deep focus in modern life.
It calms down our mind and body and gives us a fresh state of mind, which removes brain fog and gives mental clarity. It is the process that disconnects you from the digital world and reconnects you to the physical world, the world where you belong.
For this, we need to keep a watch on our screen time. If we can track our screen time for the whole day, we will know how much time we are spending on screens, which is not necessary. In most of the cases, people spend almost 50-60 percent of their leisure time on screen, this prevent us from socializing, hanging out with friends and family.
Step-by-Step Digital Detox Plan
Commit your time – Make a plan, it should be clearly saying that once you are out of work, you will keep your phone on silent and will give time to yourself, friends, or family, or you can spend this time in any hobby or meditation.
Mind training – After that developing a habit of keeping the phone in another room at the time of study, relaxing or just social gathering, by doing so you can train your mind to not keep peeping in the phone after every single notification, you must have noticed that our mind is so much addicted to the screen that it keeps forcing us to take phone and check after every 5 minutes even there is no notification sound. Hence, this exercise is basically to train our mind that it is okay not to check the phone after every 5 minutes, the world will not crash if we do not check the phone for 1 to 2 hours after our work time.
Adjust phone settings – You can adjust your phone settings to limit the usage of a few apps that are not of much importance for your personal and professional life.
Before and after bed rituals -It is a must to not check the phone at least 40 minutes before sleeping, and the phone should be in another room so that after waking up, you do not pick up the phone directly and start scrolling. In the night, wind down with positive affirmation or maybe writing journals, and in the morning, we can start by looking outside the balcony, not doing anything, just letting the fresh wind touch our face gently.
No Digital day – At least once a month, plan a day where you will not use any type of digital thing for the whole day. You keep your phone, laptop, and everything aside and will just do things that can bring mindfulness.
Final Thoughts on Digital Detox
Technology is not inherently bad, technology and social media both can have positive and negative impact depending on what someone is doing online and who they are, let say you are using Instagram for 6 hrs a day but you are just doom scrolling, not even properly interacting with the content, few of these contents could have added to your knowledge, rather due to this excess it has taken away our time from sleep, exercise and socializing which are all important for our well being, hence in this case we are getting loss rather than profit, but in the contrary scenario let say you use Instagram interact with your friends, makes and build connections which is good for your career growth, it can be any socials it completely depends on your career choice, it can be LinkedIn, it can be Reddit, Twitter etc. Hence, the Judicial use of screen and time-to-time digital detox, if required, is the best way to live with mindfulness in this Tech era.
Simple wellness practices from 10 Minutes Yoga for Beginners Daily Routine can also help reduce stress and reconnect you with the physical world.