Digital Detox: Here's Why You Need A Break From Virtuality

The millennial generation is forever glued to their handheld devices. From receiving news updates, talking to friends, busting stress to playing games or even setting up reminders to drink water, our world revolves around the touchscreen. While right swipes fix dates, daily scrolls provide the fodder of entertainment and fun to our exhausted minds. With streaming services gaining popularity in the past few years, our screen time has increased manifolds. But this constant dependency on smartphones can turn into an addiction or affect everything from our social, personal to professional life.

Ask yourself if you can concentrate on your work for even ten minutes without peeking into your phones. Tough, isn't it? Such is the impact of technology on our everyday lives. Just a ping, and voila, hours fly away while we are busy exploring our feeds and juggling all the available filters. In such a scenario, where our screen time is at its peak, we need a digital detox to shift to reality from the virtual world.

Read Also: STEM – How the human and technology relationship is changing

Here are a few reasons why we all require a break from technology.

Lack of Self-Love

The endless Instagram feed we start our days with induces a sense of inferiority in us. The curves of that celebrity or their fair skin become beauty standard for us, often subconsciously. We compare ourselves with the digital versions of others and the resultant sense of insecurity takes a toll on us. Often many people resort to diet fads that further deteriorate their physical health. The influencer trend is thus harming us not only mentally but physically as well.

From receiving news updates, talking to friends, busting stress to playing games or even setting up reminders to drink water, our world revolves around the touchscreen.

A digital detox will mean that you do not burden your brain and mindset with false standards of perfection and beauty. Even if for a duration of a few days, a digital detox will also give you a window to take a break and think about your well-being sans all the pressure to match the Insta-worthy looks.

Issues with time management

Minutes turn into hours as we swipe through apps. A study has shown that on average, people touch their phones eighty times a day. As scary as it sounds, it is absolutely true. Raise your head from the screen for a while and you would realize how much you are procrastinating in the name of staying updated. Many of us have the habit of fidgeting with our phones during bedtime and before we realise, we have spent a considerable amount of time glaring at our screens in the dark, leaving our eyes sore and with less time on hands to rest up properly.

A digital detox will thus ensure that you do not procrastinate at work. It'll also ensure that you go to bed on time, and thus wake up feeling rejuvenated.

Also Read: To Create Social Impact With Digital Media, Message Must Be Clear

Reduced Creativity

With ideas just a Google search away, we have become highly dependent on technology even in our creative pursuits. We are hardly ready to exercise our brains since Siri serves us with solutions to every problem on a platter. There isn't any room left for creativity. Our imagination is confined to what the internet shows us.

A digital detox would thus give our brain some space to work on its own, without the assistance of technology and prompt us to think outside the box. Moreover, it would render us more time to pursue creativity. If you have ever chosen to watch a web-series over your hobbies like painting, writing or playing an instrument, then you know what is in store, when you ditch the technology for some time.

We are hardly ready to exercise our brains since Siri serves us with solutions to every problem on a platter. There isn't any room left for creativity.

How virtual is tampering our reality

Most of us know that what we see and adore on social media isn't actually true, and yet are tempted to imitate. The real world isn't all smiles and perfection as portrayed by social media. We are all going through our own struggles, trying to hide them beneath fancy feeds and peppy filters. From ideologies and preferences to decisions, everything is influenced by what the others are posting. We need a break from technology to connect with our own mind and soul.

Read Also: Here’s Why I Wish To Have Lived In Simpler Times

Be it to just connect with ourselves, or to give a boost to our creativity and confidence, a digital detox is the way to go. In an era where life is inseparable from the digital world, a digital detox is akin to going on a vacation, keeping worries of work and personal life aside, and focussing on just yourself; what you like to do, how you like to be. It is certainly worth giving a try.

Saavriti is an intern with SheThePeople.TV.