Digital technology is slowly eroding downtime from our lives. Smartphones and social media are having an impact on every aspect of our lives - from our productivity to our relationships, to our happiness, to our health and well-being. Today, our digital interactions and the constant flow of digital noise is affecting our ability to be alone with our thoughts, to focus, maintain attention and to cultivate authentic relationships.
For the vast majority of human history, human beings had periods of time each day when we found ourselves alone and without input from other minds. While these periods could provoke loneliness and boredom, they also helped us generate new ideas, solve difficult problems, regulate our emotions, and better understand ourselves and the world around us. And they helped our nervous systems shift out of the stress response and into a state of relaxation, which is crucial for our health.
Yet today, for most of us, smartphones have become nearly constant companions.
Without intervention from us, our smartphones and the technologies they enable (like social media, video games, etc.) can prevent us from ever being alone with our thoughts and our experiences. They provide a steady stream of interruptions, distractions, and demands on our attention.
If our attention is constantly fragmented and split in a million different directions, then we’ll end up feeling frazzled, distracted, and exhausted—which is exactly how many of us now feel by the end of a day.
In theory we are more connected and interacting with each other today than ever before. However, digital interactions do not play the same role in our brains the way real conversation does. People who spend more time doing digital interactions spend less time having real-world conversations because they feel like they are being social.
However, the purely linguistic interaction that occurs when we message people via our phones is only accessed by a very limited part of our brains. The part of our brain that understands social interaction does not interpret this digital activity as social interaction. In order to not feel lonely, what our brain actually craves is analog interaction: hearing a voice and the intonations, seeing body language and how it moves. This is how the body understands human connection.
Top Tips:
Overwhelmed with demands on your time?
Schedule your day or week with your priorities and include free time into your schedule. This will reduce decision fatigue and help you be in alignment with your deeper priorities.
Start engineering/planning small moments in your life where you are away from your phone e.g. trip to the grocery store, toilet. Increase these to longer times so it is just you and your mind encountering the world
Self work is necessary
Decide what is important to you, a sense of purpose and a sense of values. Begin to make choices important on your values
Before you declutter, start with identifying the analog activity that is important to you to fill the void, stepping away from the digital attractions will be easier
Schedule a digital detox
Work on it for 7-14 days. After this period it becomes less difficult
The beginning is a detox from the compulsive need
Engage in quality analoge leisure activities that align with your sense of purpose and values. The more you do this, the need for low quality digital distraction will diminish.
Dr Rangan Chatterjee's 7 day digital detox:
Day 1 – Switch off push notifications on your phone, tablet and laptop.
Day 2 – Unsubscribe from redundant email lists.
Day 3 – Set your email apps to refresh manually not automatically; take emails (or at least work emails) off your phone.
Day 4 – Have a device box for meal times. Every family member must put theirs in before you all sit down.
Day 5 – Switch off all your e-devices 90 minutes before bed. Consider disabling your smartphone email inbox until Monday.
Day 6 – Have two one-hour periods during the day where you are e-device free; see if you can enjoy some special moments without posting them on social media.
Day 7 – SCREEN FREE DAY. Live your entire day offline and without screens.
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