We start our day by looking at our phones and end the day the same way. In between, to be frank, there’s not much time we spend away from these bright screens. On an average, we spend 5 hours every day on our mobile phones. Apart from that, we check our phones approximately 200 times a day, meaning every 6 ½ minutes we just swipe through push notifications, Emails, messages and whatnot. We have to stop living in the virtual world. This is where digital detoxing enters. Digital detoxing could be the new yoga.
Our lives have become so integrated with technology, we can hardly live without it. And that’s the message of this post. We cannot sit back and let technology take the throne. We are losing the importance of interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships. Social media is the cause and its effects are manifold. Young minds, productive time, culture, creativity are all taking the wrong turn. Hobbies have gone out of existence while Instagram tops the checklist. Studies have shown that social media promotes narcissism, causes insomnia and makes us less empathetic. Being humans, humanity today is not wearing its best mask.
Making up your mind to start detoxing is easy, following the schedule for a couple of days might seem easier too. Sticking to the plan and changing your lifestyle is the toughest hurdle on the path.
Breaking down steps on how to start and maintain your digital detox.
- Make a list of all the gadgets you use. Rate them importance wise. Start by cutting off of the least important of all.
- Make a list of all the meaningful things you would like to do.
- Cut down time you spend on social media and pursue your hobbies and interests.
- This doesn’t mean completely freezing your presence in the network. Fix time intervals throughout the day where you could reply or check emails and messages. And stay true to the time you set.
- The main purpose is to reduce the amount of time you spend online. So if this week you decide to spend 4 hours a day, the next week raise the bars and lower the limits until you no longer feel the need to stay online for more than 2 hours a day.
- Avoid using phones or laptops when you are eating.
- Do not leave your phone next to your pillow. Besides the harmful radiation, you will only end up tempting yourself to get back into virtuality.
- Start conversing in person. It’ll improve your interpersonal skills, helps you improve your language and establish the emotional connection.
The secret is to take it slow so that any difference is hardly noticeable. You will be surprised to find that you have lesser problems, you are a little less stressed, a little more relaxed and a lot happier. Let’s take an initiative to appreciate the little things of life that actually matter and not things like someone’s coffee or dust bunnies.
