Digital Detox — The Greatest Escape From Stress

Simple tips to lead to a better life

At first, it sounded bit funny to me but as I am thinking more about it, I feel each one us need to plan a great escape from this digital overdose to reduce the stress and attain the mental balance back. Let’s dive deeper into this topic and see how to achieve that.

What is Digital Detox?

As per the Wikipedia definition —

A period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic connecting devices such as smartphones and computers. It is regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress, focus more on social interaction and connection with nature in the physical world.

Is Digital Overdose a true thing?

Sometimes it is hard to say what is true and what is not, let’s better look at some interesting stats —

As per article —

There are 3.95 billion internet users which means 50% of worlds population is exposed to the internet.
There are approximately 1.89 billion websites in the world.
Over 50,000 websites are hacked every day.
People spend an average of 5 hours per week shopping online.
There are 3.7 billion global mobile Internet users as at January 2018.
There will be an estimated 2.62 billion social media users in 2018.
As at March 2018. Facebook has 2.2 billion monthly active users.
As at June 2018, Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users.

To conclude, we are connected everywhere, in offices, in schools, in buses, in trains, in flights, in homes pretty much everywhere. Studies say, people have admitted spending more than 2.5 Hrs daily on social media.

If you are an iPhone user, you don’t even need to look at these stats, you can see the time spent using various apps by looking at battery usage. For instance —

How Social Media Is Impacting Our lives?

The idea of being connected with your loved one is great but social media is impacting us in negative way as well. Let’s take a look at some examples —

FOMO — Fear Of Missing Out — A lot people have admitted that when they scroll though the social media feeds, they see people having great time and start feeling that they are missing out on something. This increases the anxiety and ultimately adds up to stress.
Comparison with others — On social media, since we are exposed to only good side of people’s life, we end up comparing our life (the bad/sad part) with somebody else life (the good/happy part). This again builds on stress. In some cases, people end up loosing confidence.
Political Feed Overdose — This is a new addition to the bunch. We see political parties using social media to influence people. Generally you see your friends supporting someone or the other. This creates a lot of dilemma for some people. In most of the countries, it is seen that people start believing on what they have been shown social media without even verifying the facts.
Visual improvements than real life — On social media sites like Instagram, the visual engagement is the only source feed. With use of various filters, people tend to improve the photos. This increases the level FOMO even more intense. Check out more on this — link.
Low Quality Sleep — If you tend to use social media just before going to bed, you end up continuing the thoughts even during sleep. This ends up in low quality sleep. As per Harvard study,irregular or insufficient sleep increases your risk of cardiovascular disease.

There are many adverse effects which can be added to this list but I guess these examples are good enough to make the point.

How to practice Digital Detox?

Digital Detox generally mean to cut off your self from using all devices that keep you connected to the rest of the world. The idea is to earn a personal time which can be utilised to bring positive energy into your life. Here are some simple hacks you can consider —

Switch off your phone atleast 30 minutes prior going to bed.
Unfollow friends/people/pages which tend to propagate political agenda.
Reconsider buying new gadgets at home.
Instead of chatting over Facebook Messanger or WhatsApp, prefer to give a call to a close friend.
Prefer to go for a trek over a weekend than spending time at home and watching TV. As commonly said — Let’s Wander Where The Wi-Fi Is Weak.
Plan to meet a friend in person than online.
Buy a paperback book than a e-book. Consider reading it a cafe which does not provide free Wifi.
Consider doing a community or charity work. There are a lot of NGOs which need volunteers for teaching, helping, fund raising etc.
Plan a trip and give your mind and body complete relaxation.
In office, think about doing meetings/brainstorming sessions using simple whiteboards. Follow no laptops rule.
Consider switching off Wifi router for a hour and spend time with your family members talking about their day.

I have seen people taking some extreme steps where they cut off themselves from all digital gadgets full day in a week. I would suggest do what suits you better and only if you think this would be helpful. Generally it seen to keep control on your self if you are the only one doing this. For better control, talk your spouse, friends to join you in this digital detox.

Conclusion

I hope this article is helpful to you. If you have a some better tips for doing detox, feel free to share those in comments section. Have great day and enjoy your life!