Digital Detox: How to Take a Break From Your Phone and Computer

We are not going to say that gadgets are bad. But if a person feels that they are paying too much attention to chats, videos, and news, and when you need to do something really important, there is resistance, it’s worth changing your relationship with the digital world.

A digital detox can help you avoid falling into the traps of apps and learn to control your attention.

Where Digital Addiction Comes From and How to Detect It

The habit of picking up your phone too often is linked to the way your brain works. New texts, videos, memes, photos, and likes give quick gratification and affect the paleocortex, the part of the brain that reacts instantly.

At the first sign of boredom, fatigue, or when you need to do an unpleasant task, the paleocortex commands you to unlock your phone and get quick gratification. Checking the phone for new information is rewarded, and that’s how addiction is formed.

These are the main symptoms of digital addiction:

The person is constantly distracted by the phone during live interactions. And they get anxious if the phone isn’t at hand.
The person turns on multiple devices at the same time. For example, they can watch a movie, play online slots with bonus buy option, and read the news at the same time.
The person is continuously scrolling through the feed. They skip from one video to another, can’t concentrate, and can’t remember what the previous video was about.
The person takes their phone everywhere: in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in the toilet. They try to respond to messages immediately and expect others to do the same.
The person checks their phone as soon as they wake up. They feel isolated if they have been offline for a long time.

What Digital Addiction Can Lead to

Decreased Concentration

It becomes difficult to read a large text or watch a long video. A person constantly switches from one source of information to another. Such multitasking interferes with work and learning.

Deteriorated Memory

If a person knows that the necessary information is available on the Internet, they don’t try to memorize it.

Dropped Performance

Once a person has encountered a lot of content and links, it becomes harder for them to complete a task, even after they have closed everything out. The more often a person is distracted, the harder it is to multitask and be able to switch from one thing to another.

How to Change Your Attitude Towards Gadgets

Pay attention to how you feel. Pick up your phone and unlock the screen. What on the homepage appeals to you the most? Maybe the red and gray dots above the apps or some specific icons?

Open the most enticing app and observe where you want to click next. Think about how conscious these actions are. Now turn off your phone and take a breath.

Shift your attention. Pause when you feel the urge to unlock your phone. Feel the weight of your body and notice how it makes contact with the surface. Visualize the room you are in and focus on the sounds and smells around you.

Watch for impulsive urges. When a person switches from one app to another in search of new and interesting things, they are acting almost unconsciously. The challenge is to learn to notice impulsive urges and look at them as if from the outside. Ask yourself if this is boredom or an attempt to get away from something.

What Digital Detox Is

Digital detox is a conscious refusal to use smartphones and computers. This period can last for a few hours or days.

Here’s how to arrange a digital detox:

Silence notifications during work hours. When you need to focus on a task, notifications get in the way and distract you. You can set a “Do Not Disturb” mode, for example, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. to keep your mind on your work. Or from 10 pm to 8 am to get a good night’s sleep.
Control the amount of time. Smartphones have a built-in metering feature that counts how much time a user spends online each day. On iOS, this is “Screen Time.” On Android, a similar feature is called “Digital Wellbeing.” You can see how the time of phone usage varies on different days of the week, depending on which apps the user uses most often.
You can set time limits in the app. For example, you can only use Instagram for one hour a day. After the hour has passed, access to the app is blocked.
Find a substitute for digital entertainment. As a substitute, any other activities are suitable: creativity, books, excursions, theater, courses, travel, sports, tourism, trips with friends to nature, and volunteer work.
Organize unloading days. You can choose one day a week that you will spend completely without gadgets. For emergencies, you can buy a button phone and replace the SIM card in it.