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If you were born in a time before smart phones, wifi, streaming services, and all of these other forms of technology that have led us to be staring at a screen for 80% of our awake time each day, then you know how different life once was. If you are finding that your stress and anxiety levels are at an all time high, you sleep quality could use some work, you feel disconnected from your loved ones, a digital detox might be exactly what you need right now. In today’s blog post I’m going to cover the mental, physical, social, and personal benefits of going on a digital detox.
A digital detox is a time period when a person intentionally limits or entirely eliminates their interactions and use of digital devices. These devices include smartphones, tablets, laptops, social media, and possibly even television.
A digital detox is a time period to allow yourself to un plug from the over-stimulation of the internet and be more present in your real life experiences. A time to focus on things like going out and having experiences, relationships with people in your life, and most importantly, focus on yourself. You won’t realize how bogged down, anxious, and maybe even depressed technology has made you until you remove it from the picture and experience life without a screen in your face for some time.
Mental Health Benefits
There are a number of amazing mental health benefits that come with going on a digital detox. You might be wondering how long you will need to go on a digital detox in order to reap the benefits. That part is entirely up to you. Once you start feeling the positive effects on your mental health you might even want to extend your detox longer than you initially intended, so give yourself little time to feel it out.
Reduced Anxiety
It’s no secret that social media among many other online realms that have taken out attention, have lead to increased anxiety and over all mental health issues in the general population of people who are connected. There are a number of reasons that being constantly connected online have lead to increased anxiety.
From FOMO (fear of missing out), feeling imperfect in the world of filters and staged photos on social media, and lastly due to information overload. All of these effects can weight heavy on a persons mental health, leading to increased anxiety and depression.
By committing to a digital detox and unplugging from social media for some time, you will have time to take inventory of your own life and see that you aren’t actually missing out. The only thing you were missing out on is time spent experiencing life when you were so busy paying attention to what other people were doing instead. A digital detox allows you to take time to have your own experiences and enjoy your own life.
Removing the constant stimulation of the internet and information available there, you will feel a sense of calm and decreased anxiety. This can lead to improved sleep quality as well.
Improved Sleep Quality
I am certain that I’m not the only one who has found myself lying in bed miles down an internet rabbit hole that I probably shouldn’t have gone down. And now it’s 2 hours past my bed time and it’s a work night. Or worse, I had allowed my self to climb into an anxious state due to social media’s effects on mental health, and now I can’t get my mind to quiet down and go to sleep.
Humans have a circadian rhythm that is the control dial of their sleep cycle. Sun light plays a big role in this, and when we are exposing our eyes to light well into the time we should be asleep we are fooling our circadian rhythm into thinking that it’s still light out, therefore we should still be awake. By removing this light source at bed time and allowing your natural sleep cycle to take charge, you will find a drastic increase in your sleep quality.
Increased Ability to Focus
Without the constant bombardment of information and alerts, you can be more focused and present in the moment. Imagine going through your entire daily to-do list without the interruption of texts, calls, alerts, or constant distraction of opening your phone to social media and doom scrolling for 2 hours “by accident”.
You will immediately find that you’re productivity levels will sky rocket without the distraction of technology every waking moment. With a digital detox, you are leaving yourself with just the world that is presently around you. No distractions, just you and your environment.
Physical Health Benefits
You might be surprised to know that there are lots of physical benefits that come from a digital detox. Just as impactful to your health and well being as the mental health benefits.
Decreased Eye Strain
You know how those blue light filtering lenses have become more and more popular in recent years? That’s because of the increased use of screens that are straining our eyes. They make those kinds of lenses for both prescription and non-prescription glasses.
Sure, some screen time is unavoidable in most cases, such as at work or if you are in school. So, yes, those lenses are great when screen time is necessary. But the extra eye strain of using screens longer than necessary adds up over time, leading to issues such as headaches and dry eyes.
Improved Posture
After even just 30 mins sitting in front of your laptop you are likely super slouched over and need to remind yourself to sit up straight. The only thing alerting you to your posture being the pain in your back. Your back isn’t the only part of your suffering from bad posture due to screen time either.
“Text Neck” is now an actual medical syndrome. One that is becoming increasingly prevalent as smart phone use continues to be more and more common and frequent. Symptoms of this include neck pain, muscle stiffness, and even headaches at times. Advances cases can include numb and tingly feelings, all according to WebMD. A digital detox would certainly make a world of different for all the strain your neck is usually under from looking down at your smart phone for hours at a time.
increased Physical Activity
If you weren’t constantly fixated on a screen. Phone, television, etc, what else would you be doing with your time? Aside from reading a book or taking a nap, you would likely be up and about doing various physical tasks. Such as cleaning and organizing your home, interacting with friends and family, taking a walk around the park, going to the super market, etc. Long story short, most tasks that you would be doing while in a digital detox are likely ones that involve you being up on your feet.
While on a digital detox and experiencing less distraction and increased focus, you may find that you are more motivated and apt to go to the gym or a fitness class that you’ve been wanting to try out as well. Instead of sitting at home watching videos of people working out you will be spending your time actually doing just that. Your improved sleep quality will support your energy levels to do this as well.
Social Benefits
As this blog post goes on, did you imagine that you were missing out on so many benefits of committing to a digital detox? Now I’ll shed some lights on the social benefits that you will get from a digital detox.
Deeper Connections with Friends and Loved Ones
Imagine sitting with a close friend and not having your phone in your hand, or even in the same room for that matter. Their phone is long one as well. Just you and that person in a room. Weird to imagine huh?
Not sure when quality time went from spending actual 1 on 1 time with someone, talking and engaging, distraction free, to you and another person sitting in silence and scrolling on your phones for hours at a time. Sure, it’s nice to veg out in the presence of someone else sometimes, but consider teh fact that we do that because socializing has just become “harder” to do now, so we avoid it and stay on out phones instead. Having conversations is a lost art, and should be practiced more.
As human beings, we need social connections. Have you ever had a great conversation with a friend that lasted over an hour and left you feeling emotionally lifted and happier? Imagine interacting that way and having those feelings on a daily basis. That’s what a digital detox can bring into your life.
Do you need a refresher in the art of listening so that people feel heard and want to keep talking? Check out my blog post that covers this lost art.
Increased Quality Time with Friends & Family
Think about the number of Horus per week you spend with your eyes glued to the television or your phone screen. Imagine if you spend half of those hours spending time with friends and family. Instead of seeing them in passing on occasion for brief encounters that likely involved more screen time, but in the presence of one another.
A digital detox will allow you to be fully present and available for time spend with friends and family. You may even come to find that you prefer to have your phone on silent and put away in your purse or bag for now on when spending quality time with the people you love.
Improved Communication Skills
Having good communication skills isn’t just limited to having the ability to string words into comprehensible sentences, and hold a conversation with another person. Good communication skills depend just as heavily on a persons ability to listen as it does to speak back to the other person. What is said back is just as crucial of course.
But being able to pay attention to body language and pick up on non verbal cues are two important traits of being a good communicator that we are losing by spending more time communicating through technology instead of verbally, face to face. A digital detox will give you the chance to hone in on these long lost skills and improve your over all communication skills.
Check out my other blog post about the book you should start reading today in order to boost your communication skills.
Personal Growth Benefits
Yes, taking some time away from your technology can definitely have an impact on your personal growth as well. It’s really a well rounded experience that can benefit all aspects of your life. You really don’t realize how negatively screen time is effecting your life until you take it away for a few days.
Increased Creativity & Problem Solving Skills
Without instant access to the internet to look at Pinterest for DIY tutorials or Google to find the answer to a problem you’re having, you’re giving your brain a chance to do some work. Creative ideas can now flow from you instead of from online. Problem solving skills are an important skill to have, so it’s especially crucial to let your mind work this muscle during a digital detox. What would you do one day if all cellular service and wifi went down and you couldn’t access the internet?
Enhanced Self Awareness
Without a constant distraction of social media or a television show, you will become more acutely aware of yourself. Being alone with your own thoughts is something that’s often avoided using technology these days. A digital detox will give you some time to listen to your own thoughts and feelings that you probably don’t always take the time to experience and explore.
Taking up meditation during your digital detox is another way you could become more self aware. Learning to sit still, quiet your mind, and just experience your existence is something that everyone should try at least once before deciding it’s not for them.
Rediscovering Passions and Interests
Maybe you used to love to paint or do yoga, but now as you’ve gotten older your life has become busier so you’ve put those hobbies to the way side. Now, in your free time you’ve turned to scrolling through social media as a way to relax, instead of making time for the hobbies in your week.
You will be shocked to see how much free time you truly have when screen time is removed from the equation. During your digital detox you should make it a point to try and get back into one of your old hobbies that you used to dedicate hours to before being sucked into social media. You may even find an entirely new hobby during your digital detox as well.
Conclusion
in the 21st century, some daily screen time is nearly unavoidable, mostly with job-related tasks. But in your own life, and your own spare time, the choice if yours on whether you need to constantly be connected to technology or not. Choosing to take some time to commit to a digital detox, if only for 2-3 days, or a couple hours out of each day, you will see a world of difference in multiple aspects of your life.
You will feel a weight of anxiety and depression lift off of your shoulders when you start to pay attention to and experience your own life, instead of giving all of your attention to everyone else’s lives on social media. Your sleep quality and ability to concentrate will also improve. Your physical health will also have positive benefits such as decreased eye strain and neck pain. A digital detox will give you the opportunity to reconnect and communicate with friends and family on a deeper level. And lastly, a digital detox will help you to grow as a person as you become more self aware and relearn how important hobbies and passions are as a part of your daily life.
Do you have a set period of your day/week that you commit to a digital detox? If so how long does yours go for, and what kind of benefits have you seen so far? Tell me about your digital detox experiences in the comments!
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