By Dr. Soumya Singh, Junior Resident (Psychiatry) at the Institute of Human Behavior and Allied Sciences, Delhi, India
Nowadays, with the advancement in technology, it is easy for people to stay connected with their loved ones, express themselves on social media and the answer to every question that pops in their mind is just a click away. Yet, using technology excessively might have unforeseen repercussions. This includes spending too much time on social media, smartphones, or other digital screens.
Our continuous access to phones, laptops, smartwatches, and tablets has made us hyperconnected—and hyper-distracted. We feel a sense of attachment to the people and their lives on our phones. But, in reality, we are all disconnected from our real-life storylines. When technology starts to interfere with your everyday life and gets addictive, it becomes a problem. The approval component in particular makes social media addictive. Similar to when someone smiles at you in real life, receiving "likes" on photos or "follows" on newsfeeds validates our presence. Being acknowledged makes us feel good. Social media makes this validation easy to access because of its constant availability.
The more time we spend online, the lesser we do things that we love in the real world and compromise on the time that we spend with our loved ones, due to which relationships can suffer. Moreover, youngsters addicted to smartphones suffer more commonly cause mental health issues like depression, anxiety, insomnia, and even serious conditions like ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Excessive tech use also leads to sedentary behavior in addition to the harmful impacts of digital media itself. We wind up spending a lot of time in front of screens or on our smartphones.
It is high time that we take action to stop these harmful effects of digital media. During a digital detox, a person refrains from using any Internet-connected electronic devices, such as computers and smartphones. A digital detox is also an opportunity to lower stress levels and put more emphasis on social connection. Also, it can aid in avoiding tech device addiction. Regularly unplugging enables us to keep a healthy balance between our IRL (in real life) and digital lives.
There are various ways by which we can do a digital detox:
Deactivate push notifications and convert devices to grayscale which makes them less vibrant.
Try to keep the phone away from your reach while having meals or conversations with others and by setting up a specific period of time each day that is tech-free.
By being proactive about who and what you follow is crucial. Consider what or who makes you feel bad. Once you've made a list of contacts who make you laugh, smile, and feel happy, clean house. Don't be afraid to block, mute, unfollow, or remove.
Digital Detox reduces your stress and anxiety levels along with improvement in creativity, sleep habits and physical health. Additionally, it helps you relax, slow down and fully unwind which in turn improves your productivity and mental health. Thus, one should consider undergoing a digital detox if they feel that it’s having more repercussions than benefits.
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