Significance of Intoxicating Your Digital Self

Digital habits can affect us in ways we can’t think of. It is essential these days to have healthy digital habits. It feels that soon it will become a necessity to disconnect from technology at night and over weekends to keep ourselves sane in the world of social media. Digital detox has not been a novel word in our lives but it is soon going to be part of our everyday lives.

Technology can add to the stress

While people often feel that they can’t imagine life without their tech devices, research and surveys have found that technology use can also contribute enough to a stressful life. 

For many, it is the ever-present digital connection and constant need to keep checking emails, texts, and social media that accounted for the majority of this tech stress A study conducted by researchers in Sweden found that heavy technology use among young adults was associated to sleeping problems, depressive symptoms, and increased stress levels.

Why You Might Need a Digital Detox?

• You feel anxious or stressed out if you can’t find your phone
• You feel to keep checking your phone every few minutes
• You feel depressed, anxious, worried or angry after spending time on social media
• You are too preoccupied with the like, comment, or reshare counts on your social posts
• You’re afraid that you’ll miss something if you don’t keep checking your device (FOMO- Fear Of Missing Out)
• You often find yourself staying up late or getting up early to keep yourself engaged on your phone
• You have trouble concentrating on one thing without having to check your phone

Digital Detox- A healthy way to intoxicate your digital self

It is suggested that a true digital detox would involve predefined abstinence from any and all digital devices and social media connections, but it is important to make your device usage work for your own life and demands. Detaching from your devices can benefit your mental well-being.

How to control bit by bit?

Times to limit your digital device usage include:

• When you are having meals, particularly when dining with other people
• When you are waking up or going to bed
• When you are working on a project or hobby
• When you are spending time with friends or family
• Before you go to sleep each night

Try it for Yourself

A digital detox can be whatever you want it to be and can take many forms. You might want to try giving up all digital devices for a time, including television, mobile phones, and social media while you might start by focusing on restricting your use of just one type of digital devices such as your phone or your gaming console.

A few ideas that you might consider trying:

• A social media detox: Focus on restricting or even completely eliminating your social media use for a specific period of time
• Recurrent digital abstinence: Pick one day of the week to go device-free
• A digital fast: Try giving up all digital devices for a short period of time, such as a day or up to a week
• A specific detox: If one app, site, game, or digital tool is taking up too much of your time, focus on restricting your use of that problematic item

Some Digital Detox Tips

Some people find giving up their devices fairly easy while others will find it much more difficult and even anxiety-provoking at times. There are a few things that you can do to ensure that your digital detox is more successful:

• Let your friends and family know that you are on a digital detox and seek their help and support
• Find ways to stay distracted and keep other activities ready on hand
• Delete social media apps from your phone to reduce temptation and easy access
• Try getting out of the house; go to dinner with friends or go for a walk when you are tempted to use your device, distract yourself when you get such thoughts.
• Keep a journal to track your progress and write down your thoughts about your experience.

Over to you 

Studies show that limiting your social media use to approximately 30 minutes per day can significantly improve well-being, decreasing symptoms of loneliness, and depression.

Restricting your mobile device usage immediately before you go to sleep may also be beneficial as using media devices was linked to poor sleep quality, inadequate sleep, and excessive daytime sleepiness. Skip laying in bed playing on your phone or scrolling on social media and instead try reading a book or magazine for a few minutes before you go to sleep.