When I grew up, idle time was spent reading, playing baseball with my neighbors, or tracking mud into the house. My parents consciously and constantly encouraged me to “be outside” and not “sit there” in front of the TV. There was no urgency for something like a digital detox because technological addictions were far rarer.
However, with the advent of smartphones and ever-present Internet access, I adapted. I purchased phones and computers, started websites and embraced social media. This ability to change is good. We continue making livings and feel connected with our current culture by participating.
But adaptation sometimes has unintended consequences.
As I type these words, my phone is silenced and turned over. Despite trying to avoid notifications and create a distraction-free zone, I am pulled towards it. It is, after all, sitting right next to me.
Its power remains—even if I don’t respond to the device. My brain shouts that there are unexpected joys and pleasant moments possible if I would only embrace the device and press the screen alive.
What news, messages, loves, and likes might I be missing?
Of course, opening my smartphone now would prevent me from writing these words. I might swim in the infinite Internet of news, posts, articles, and comments—losing track of time or intention.
I’ve done it before. Far too many times.
Setting my sights on an individual, meaningful news article, clicking a link within the content, and then searching through other stories the company personally recommends for me. The “suggested articles” never end.
Before I know it, 20 to 30 minutes is gone. Never to be regained again.
Most of us have a technology addiction. And a digital detox is the solution.
Companies have become incentivized to keep your attention for longer and longer periods of time. Google, Twitter, and Facebook employ teams of psychologists and human-computer interaction experts to find ways to modify behavior and hook you. Thirty minutes of your time—of billions of people’s—makes the marketers happy.
Tristan Harris, formerly a Design Ethicist at Google, talks about this as a consequence of the “attention economy.” And if companies have their way, we’ll be watching even more cat videos, sharing “shocking” stories, and commenting to “outrage.” Our personalities are invested in these processes now.
Taking a break, minimizing distractions, and embracing simplicity are all difficult in today’s world. Most of us aren’t ready to ditch our smartphones or social media, the isolation isn’t worth the departure. Nor is avoiding technology entirely the answer.
Many of us seem to be struggling to moderate and balance technology use. So how do you know when you need to detox?
Here are Five Signs You Need a Digital Detox
1. You spend more time than intended.
Technology can be like quicksand, sticky and challenging to escape. Haven’t we have all gotten hooked after one article and stayed for another article, comment, or share? If you clicked on this article through Facebook, you might have accounted about 5-10 minutes of time. But what if you continued scrolling down your Facebook news feed afterwards? Before you know it, you’ve spent 15-20 minutes mindlessly scrolling. By setting intentional blocks of your schedule for checking, you might gain an awareness for your use and find ways to contain it.
2. You feel guilt/dissatisfaction afterwards.
When I eat a bag of chips, I immediately feel the salt on my tongue. Eventually, the saltiness dulls and oils remain. The residue remains on my fingertips. But when I overeat on these empty calories, I feel dissatisfied. Technology use has a similar reward-regret curve. Each site and article provides a little nugget of instant gratification. Too many, and I’m inclined to regret this use of time. Reflection is the best medicine for examining how you move forward in the world. If you’re filled with negative emotions, it might be time to ask, was that “time well spent?”
3. You are motivated by a fear of missing out.
My event invitations, messages, and updates from friends and friendly make it crystal clear: I don’t have a fear of missing out, as I’m always missing out on something. I’ve grown to embrace this truism. It’s freeing. There’s always more we can participate in, but time is limited and being more busy is not the answer. Minimalism is attractive to so many because, at its heart, it is about intentionally finding ways to embrace that which gives us meaning, while removing the distractions that keep us from it. We don’t have unlimited space or time or energy. And the sooner we own this reality, the sooner we’ll focus on what matters.
4. You experience urges to check.
Researchers have found interruptions lead to major delays in the completion of projects. On average, study participants took about 23 minutes to get back on task after a distraction. Potentially, that “important” email could mean 23 minutes from what’s meaningful. From phantom vibrations to wondering whether the screen just flashed on, the motivation to check our phones is one of the strongest adaptations. Proactive preventions from checking might help curb cell phone addiction. For instance, you might choose to turn your phone off when socializing with loved ones or putting it on a do-not-disturb mode.
5. You never have enough time in your day.
Recently, I installed a little application (Moment) on my smartphone to track use. What I found still haunts me. I picked up my phone about 40 times, and spent nearly two hours working on emails, checking media, and text messaging. While some of that was purposeful work, distractions clearly continue to get me. At the end of days, it’s not uncommon to feel incredibly busy. This busyness and stress is real, but if you were to reduce smartphone usage, might it help you feel more calm and available for what matters?
Despite conscious efforts to minimize material goods, information and technology can weasel its way in, pushing out what matters. Taking intentional efforts to take part in a digital detox might free up far more time than you realize for the things that matters most.
And isn’t that really the goal of all this? To live a life that matters.
Chris says
Great stuff, as usual.
One of the best decisions I’ve made recently was to silence all the alerts on my phone (outside of phone calls and texts). This has allowed me to better filter what info I let into my life, while allowing me to ignore a lot of the negative and inconsequential “info”.
Still, it’s tough to ignore the temptation of scrolling through several apps when I have a few extra minutes. The 23 minute stat will hopefully jump to the forefront of my brain the next time I think about checking Twitter!
June says
Number 5 really struck me. I’m almost scared to install that app and see what I find about my own smartphone use. Its even more challenging, I think, when you work in the Internet world. I read e-books on my phone, respond to reader comments, and do some of my social media work on it. One helpful thing I’ve found for helping my kids understand my relationship with technology is to explain to them what I’m doing when I’m doing it. That way, they know that mommy is responding to a person, listening to a podcast, or reading a book, and not playing a game or something else they might associate with technology. Still, it’s all about finding balance, which is so challenging in our technology oriented world.
Lottie says
During the Christmas period, I had a detox break from technology. One of the best things I have ever done! Learning to pick up a book, a magazine instead of my phone was much more fulfilling.
http://www.flareaforte.com
Stargirl says
I’ve been using Moment too! I tend to pick up fewer times but use my phone for longer periods.
Tyler Merry says
Is there any way you could experiment with different technology detoxes and explain some pros, cons, and struggles with different attempts you have made?
Andrea Sharb says
Thanks for the heads up on Moment. With all that is going on in our country in the past 6 months I’ve found myself spending WAY too much time on Twitter. As a result, I find myself spending less time living my values. I told my husband last week that I wanted to curb Twitter usage, but I know I’ve only curbed it slightly. Moment will hopefully give me the objective reminder I need so I can transition to spending more of my time doing what I really want and need to do instead of following the latest tweets from the NYTimes, Washington Post, etc.
Thank you for all you do to encourage those of us trying to live more intentional and less stuff focused lives.
Peggy says
Your article hits the nail the nail on the head in all aspects. I found Facebook to be my nemesis. It wasn’t at all what it was intended to be. You can’t unsee everything that you scroll past even if you don’t want to read it. Then there also was too much nonsense. I know, just scroll past what you don’t want to see, but it doesn’t work as easily as that. So I deleted my account. My mind feels clearer, I have a LOT of time to do things that otherwise got pushed aside. Then there were the games, email, etc. It’s a never ending barrage of nothingness. I started reading actual books again. Now I sometimes forget to take my phone when I go out. I turn it off when I finish reading my emails, or articles that I’ve downloaded. It’s better. My husband would complain that I didn’t listen to him, cause my face was buried in the phone. Now he has my full attention when he talks to me. It’s better. Thanks so much for this article.
Shari says
Yes! This is a struggle for me. I have taken hiatus from Facebook (it is my main addiction) during the months leading up to and following Christmas. It was wonderful! I felt more relaxed, I was able to focus more on the things I needed to get done, and to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. I will say though that I did feel like I missed out on some things. So much of the communications from the groups I’m involved in are through social media (church, school, etc). So, I have yet to find a way to use it only as a tool. It becomes too much of a crutch and time waster for me. I think I’ll take another hiatus over the summer:)
Pam says
Facebook is bad for me, too. I have found, though, many of the pages I need information from are also public so you don’t need to sign in to look at it. My kids’ schools, our church, rec sports groups, the local donut shop, etc., have pages that I can access and then close without getting too involved. (If you want/need to comment then you would need to sign in.)
I also wonder if going directly to friends’ pages instead of scrolling through the feed would cut my time. I’ll have to try that. ;) You can also unfollow a person or group, but still be friends, so that their posts and actions don’t show up in your feed. I have done that with a few…
Aimee @ Whispers of Worth says
The struggle is real! My vice is Facebook (which is how I came across this article), and I have done a couple of things to limit myself. First, I don’t have Facebook on my phone. I am consciously forget my password, so I can’t even log on if I feel tempted. This way, I have to intentionally sit down at the computer and decide to look at FB instead of doing the work I sat down to do.
The second thing I have done is take a total Facebook hiatus, by deactivating my account. I wrote about what I learned from the experience here: http://whispersofworth.com/confessions-of-a-facebook-addict/. A few of my discoveries coincide with your points here.
Life is so much worthwhile spent living in the present with those around you instead of locked in a virtual world of acceptance and entertainment. As long as we have the world at our fingertips, it will continue to be a struggle, but it is one worth fighting for.
Aimee says
Sorry about the typos! It should read, “I consciously forget” and “Life is so much more worthwhile.”
The Tepid Tamale says
Once you realize how ‘engineered’ this all is, and the paths that you can be led down, well it’s a little scary. Maybe not quite tin foil hat scary, but starting to feel that way! I had recently read an article by Tristan (linked below) that really opened my eyes and has helped me to limit the time in social media, and make sure that I remain in control.
http://www.tristanharris.com/2016/05/how-technology-hijacks-peoples-minds%E2%80%8A-%E2%80%8Afrom-a-magician-and-googles-design-ethicist/
Sun Quist says
Tepid Tamale, the article you referenced is fantastic. Thank you for sharing it!