Digital detox

Digital detox

Published 25.11.2023 | By Йосиф

Digital detox? How best to “turn off”

More and more people are looking for a way to make a “digital detox”, tired of constantly scrolling through news sites, social networks, video sites, e-mails and chat channels. But total, total exclusion of everything is not the most effective solution. There is a better method, scientists advise.

You wake up. You grab your phone. You’re checking all the messages that arrived overnight. You’re looking at the news channels. Scroll Instagram and Instagram. You sit down to work. You chat with colleagues in the enclaves and write emails. You’re watching random videos in the Apostille. Then you send them to your friends through the ages. And if you end up watching meaningless reality TV in the evening, peek into social networks to see if your acquaintances are impressed by the latest antics of the TV contestants.

Not bad, is it? But it’s not good either. One easily spends hours in mindless scrolling of screens, looking at things without which one can safely live.

Does that sound familiar? Many realize the absurdity of the situation. Some try to” heal “themselves by indulging in a” digital detox “– a time of total” disconnection “from the digital environment and complete detachment from the waterfall of time-wasting” nonsense ” on social networks.

But total exclusion is not the best solution to regain a sense of normal and happy life, scientists advise.

Important questions

In order to escape the sense of misery caused by digital devices, we must first understand why we really want to “switch off”.

The time spent in front of the screen is already notorious. We tend to blame the large volume of content with a negative sign. Bad news, scandals, campaigns to help people in need – it’s negative, isn’t it? We point to this as the cause of our unhappiness, from fatigue to decreased concentration to the onset of depression and anxiety.

But there is growing evidence that reducing screen time alone won’t make anyone happier-and that overall device usage isn’t a factor at all in how we feel. A major study in 2019. the University of Oxford found that the amount of time teenagers spend using digital devices has little impact on their mental health. The problem is not necessarily in the time we spend scrolling, but in the essence of what we read and watch.

“Many of the claims in the headlines are quite misleading. In fact, what really matters is how you use social media or technology, and who you are, what your history is, and your motivation,“ says Amy Orben of the cognitive and brain sciences department at the University of Cambridge, UK, co-author of the study.

People also tend to abuse in ways that make internet use seem dangerous and unhealthy, says Theodora Zuton, a digital anthropologist from the UK who has spent a substantial amount of time with people doing a “digital detox” in connection with her PhD. “I find that people can be too critical of these things,” she adds. “People just have to have fun if they want to have fun.“

We need to think carefully about how scrolling through videos on social networks and viewing news feeds makes us feel. It can help us determine if there are reasons to stop altogether – and prevent us from making pointless radical changes, says David Ellis, professor of behavioural science at the University of Bath in the UK. He is a participant in a 2019 report. on the effects of social media and screen use on the health of young people.

For example, the professor points out, there is no need to undergo a full “digital detox” if what makes us feel bad is just Instagram posts. Then it may be better to set a limit on the time we spend in a particular application. “On the other hand, we have to think: is technology really the problem, or rather, is what annoys us is the person we text with in the Apostille?”the professor asks rhetorically.

Beginning of borders

Once we isolate the root cause of our dissatisfaction – whether it’s a specific person annoying us, the type of content we encounter in a particular app, or simply the desire to spend more time in the real world – we can set limits that make us feel better.

“It may be useful to treat internet use on the principle of intermittent fasting,” says Anna Lembke, a professor of psychiatry at the Stanford School of Medicine. This means implementing strategies where we only allow ourselves to browse online at certain times, not even every day. “Try deleting apps that make you wander around parts of the internet you don’t want to visit. Make a specific to-do list of things you want to do online before you go online.“ “Stick to this list.“

End the vicious circle

For many, peeking into an app is a matter of habit – a convenient distraction or a way to kill time when a person is bored. But we can get rid of the habit and replace it with healthier practices. Jude Brewer, director of research and innovation at Brown University’s Mindfulness Center, recommends a three-step process to break the vicious cycle.

The first step is to realize that we are in a “habit cycle.” What does that mean? Almost all of us have an impulse to review our work emails even during a vacation, for example. That’s what it means to be in the habit. “Write down these problems so you can have in mind what you want to fight,” Brewer advises. The next step is what he calls a ” key issue.” It can actually be applied to any behavior: “What am I achieving in this way?“

Our brains are wired so that we keep doing things that bring us some kind of” reward, ” whether it’s smoking, eating or checking social media. “If an activity gives us a sense of reward, we will continue to do it. So you can actually undermine this dominant paradigm by getting people to pay attention to just how rewarding the behavior is. This will help you recognize what works for you and what is pure waste of time.“

The third and final step involves identifying the bigger, better offer – the more satisfying ” reward “that helps us break the vicious”habit cycle.” It is important to ask what it really feels like to check social media. Then we can compare the feeling with what we feel when we read a book or play sports, for example. This will determine which is the more“ rewarding ” activity, Brewer explains.

Getting out of the misery of endless scrolling requires careful consideration, but it is possible. The opinions of experts show how important it is to realize and ask yourself whether you really want to watch a lot of stories in the Instagram published by people you don’t even like, or whether you prefer to devote yourself to a small number of important articles that you have written in bookmarks. Thus, a person becomes more attentive, more concentrated, and more conscious of what he allows himself to “feed his brain” from his screen.

https://technews.bg/article-156014.html