Unplug, Restore, Reconnect: What Is Digital Detox?

Technology has made us more connected than ever, but this has also made it harder to disconnect. Increases in screen time can negatively impact mental health in several ways (this is called “technostress”). 

According to researchers, “non-intensive as well as intensive technology users” are susceptible to this concern [1]. Throwing off the shackles of the internet is often unrealistic, especially as employers increasingly require a continued connection.

Still, momentary breaks — or “digital detoxes” — can offer a respite from the stressful world of wires and notifications.

What Is A Digital Detox?

The two main types of digital detox involve daily changes (e.g. maintaining regular “dark hours” with technology) or longer retreats from screens. In either case, the goal is to reduce or temporarily eliminate the time spent connected to the internet.

In 2020, American adults spent an average of 28.5 hours per week — more than one full day — on social media [2]. This is to say nothing of time spent staring at a computer for work, texting, or playing video games.

Technology has tremendously improved life by bringing our loved ones and any information we need to our fingertips. However, there are several concerns surrounding excessive screen time and scrolling.

How To Do A Digital Detox

A digital detox can take several forms, depending on each person’s needs, lifestyle, and capabilities. For some, it’s as simple as abstaining from their phone before completing a morning mindfulness meditation, for others it’s a weeklong escape to somewhere without cell service.

Regardless of the lengths you’d like to go, here are some useful tips for detoxifying your digital life:

#1. Set Your Intention (Repeatedly)

Voicing, writing, or mentally repeating an intention is an easy way to boost your probability of accomplishing a goal. One meta-analysis from 2006 looked over 94 different studies on the topic and found that “intentions had a positive effect of medium-to-large magnitude [3].”

They found that voicing an intention can help provide:

1. Motivation to begin work on the goal
2. Energy to not get distracted while pursuing it
3. Willingness to accept when something isn’t working and find a new path
4. An understanding that goals can be accomplished in the future

Through this simple (preferably repeated) task, the lofty goal of abstaining from technology can begin to feel attainable.

#2. Inform Your Loved Ones and Colleagues

When planning to go off-grid, it’s important to tell the people likely to contact you first to avoid concern. Develop a safety plan for contact in case of an emergency and define what constitutes one.

In addition to informing your friends, colleagues, and family, it also helps maintain a peaceful mind throughout the experience, knowing they can contact you if needed.

This step is critical even when a digital detox involves minor life changes. Letting everyone know when they shouldn’t expect a response can also help establish and maintain an important boundary.

#3. Consider a Replacement Habit

Most people turn to technology instinctively when bored, uncomfortable, or anxious. This could involve reading, taking up a new hobby, meditation/breathing exercises, or anything else you can do whenever the urge to look at a screen arises.

Some like to add a physical activity — like doing 5 pushups whenever they crave a screen — which can help reveal how often a person absentmindedly picks up their phone. 

Eventually, the more beneficial replacement habit may take over altogether or become a new habit to help temper technology cravings.

#4. Keep a Journal

Keeping a journal can help all stages of your journey:

1. Before A Detox — Journaling through your intentions before starting can help provide the initial push to get going
2. During A Detox — Tracking your thoughts, progress, and emotions can offer crucial motivation to continue and hold on to the lessons you learn
3. After A Detox — Celebrate your accomplishments, work through the experience, and work to incorporate it into your life

Whether you use a journal for some or all of these, it’s bound to make your detox more impactful.

#5. Consider a Retreat

Retreat centers like Bask Nature Sanctuary offer a serene, inviting setting for people to unplug in. Surrounded by nature with like-minded people participating in similar goals, a retreat can make success more likely and potentially more impactful.

Through a retreat center like Bask, participants can experience healing events within a holistic environment to rejuvenate their lives outside the “real world.” 

Disconnecting from electronics makes reconnection with ourselves, others, and the world around us easier. For many, doing this surrounded by natural beauty like the Tennesseean paradise at Bask makes enjoying the break from technology simple.

How Digital Detox Improves Physical Health

Excessive screen time can lead to a sedentary lifestyle and social media can distract from the real world. The risk for this is even higher than other tasks that involve sitting.

Literary reading groups, for example, have been shown to “alleviate mental and physical health conditions [4].” While many don’t think of reading as something they do for their physical health, it has these implications.

Replacing screen time with a book, meditation, or other activity can boost physical health without breaking a sweat.

Digital Detox Impacts On Mental Health

A 2020 study involving 61 participants investigated the effects of a 7-day break from social media. Researchers concluded that it greatly improved mental well-being and reduced participants' “fear of missing out [5].”

The researchers further claimed that social media “was a coping mechanism to escape thoughts and avoid difficult environments” for their participants. Additionally, they’d turn to social media “to find an escape from any difficult situations in their offline world.” 

Removing the avoidance mechanism may have made working through negative emotions easier. If nothing else, it made running from them harder.

Conclusion: Unplugging To Tune In

Regardless of the lengths a digital detox goes to, taking breaks from social media and technology can have physical and mental health benefits. As technology intertwines more with everyone’s day-to-day lives, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain a healthy relationship with it.

A digital detox helps take control of the habitual action of checking our phones and makes it easier to connect with the world around us. The lessons that shine through in that experience can carry on far beyond it and reshape how we live and connect with others.

References

1. Salanova, M., Llorens, S., & Ventura, M. (2014). Technostress: The Dark Side of Technologies. In C. Korunka & P. Hoonakker (Eds.), The Impact of ICT on Quality of Working Life (pp. 87–103). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8854-0_6

2. Wagner, B. E., Folk, A. L., Hahn, S. L., Barr-Anderson, D. J., Larson, N., & Neumark-Sztainer, D. (2021). Recreational Screen Time Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the U.S.: A Mixed-Methods Study among a Diverse Population-Based Sample of Emerging Adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(9), 4613. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094613

3. Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta‐analysis of Effects and Processes. In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 38, pp. 69–119). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1

4. Kuiken, D., & Jacobs, A. M. (2021). Handbook of Empirical Literary Studies. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.

5. Brown, L., & Kuss, D. J. (2020). Fear of Missing Out, Mental Wellbeing, and Social Connectedness: A Seven-Day Social Media Abstinence Trial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(12), 4566. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17124566