Get dis:connected – 3x2 reasons for digital detox

“You dip your finger into the sea and you are in touch with the whole world.” I love this quote which Hamburg-based artist @Platz, Janine painted on one of @Hamburg Süds red 40-foot containers. It came back into my mind just recently when I was doing some research for my book project on the benefits of taking conscious breaks. In the moment the quote came back into my mind, I was researching the benefits and disadvantages of THE communication tool these days: the mobile phone or smartphone. And this one thought hit me: “The possibility to be in touch with the whole world is rarely one arm lengths away. No need to dip my finger into the sea when I just have to hit the home button.” A mixture of feelings overcame me along with this thought. A blend of thrill, excitement, sadness and anxiety.

Mobile phones. Some of us start and end their days looking at them. How about you? What’s the first thing you do after (or even before?) getting up? What’s the last thing you do before going to sleep? What do you do while waiting e.g. on the bus, train, in the cue of a take-a-way place during lunch or for a friend you are sharing dinner with and who just went to the restrooms? “What do you do on the loo?” If the answer to these questions is “checking my phone” for more than 50% of the questions, this article might be interesting for you. And hey, for all of you others as well I hope ;-)

Appreciating all the benefits of having “the world in my pocket”, I personally believe the time has come that we again learn that the world at our doorsteps is awesome, too. And that “dipping fingers into the sea to get in touch with the whole world” is not only romantic but also allows us for a connection of a different and much deeper kind.

So here are my reasons why you might want to try digital detox, ideally on a daily basis:

1.?????Effect on hormones

a.?????Dopamine – being constantly available and connected via WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and the like creates stress for our organism. We fear that we might miss something. We want to reply as fast as possible. This causes the release of stress hormones. One of them being Dopamine. This hormone works like a drug on us: we become addicted to the blinking and beeping of our phones and, like with any other drug, need them to provide us some happiness and pleasure. This effect of course only lasts for a short time.

b.?????Melatonin – I assume most of you have come across this one already. The use of smartphones (amongst other light sources) decreases our levels of Melatonin, the so called “sleep hormone”. Have you ever experienced a kind of restlessness when trying to go to sleep after using your smartphone? Could be that you are physically and mentally super tired but due to lack of Melatonin – and potentially the content you were consuming on your smartphone – you find it hard to get to sleep. No need to tell you what effects a night with too little and low-quality sleep has on your next day I guess…

2.?????Effect on body and emotions

a.?????Posture: neck issues – I came across the term “head-down generation” recently and it describes, obviously, the position we are usually in when being on our smartphones. Instead of having a look on your smartphone next time you are travelling on public transport, have a look around you. What do you notice? My perception: some 90% of the people I am joining a ride with are looking at their smartphones. Either standing or slumped in their seats. Head down in a position where I do not need to be an orthopedist to see that this will cause trouble if done for too long or too often. Neck issues and headaches are common symptoms these days and not rarely resulting from smartphone usage.

b.?????Posture: depression – this is another interesting one if you ask me. How do happy and self-assured people stand, sit, walk? Versus sad and maybe even depressed people? Picture the two types and think for yourself: the happy ones “wear their head high”, back straight, shoulders back, chest wide. While in a sad person we can often witness the complete opposite: head down, back bent, shoulders rolled forward. Or in other words: the position we often enough take on when being on our smartphones. And here is the worrying part: by being on the smartphone in such an unhealthy, hunched position, we train our organism being sad and depressed. Our mood follows our body, our posture.

3.?????Effect on connectivity?

a.?????Communication – while smartphones are a great invention for communication, they are also one of the biggest contributors to the destruction of good conversation. Positive: communication with people not around is easily possible. Negative: communication with people around might be prevented or disturbed in the presence of smartphones. Again, take a look around or dig into your memory for a moment and imagine a situation in a restaurant. Imagine a situation in which two people – maybe even you and a friend – share dinner. Usually, as soon as one of them gets up to go to the restrooms, the other one grabs their smartphone. Or, even worse, one if not both of them sit together at the table, looking at their smartphones. How deep and meaningful can the interaction between these two people possibly be? Even in the situation where one of them goes to the restrooms and the other grabs their smartphone, there is distraction and the smartphone takes them away from the here and now, and for example the conversation they had until that moment. In an article published in 2012 by Larry D. Rosen Ph.D. I found smartphones being called “weapons of mass distraction”. Guess that says it all.

b.?????Connection – to ourselves. I don’t know of course how you feel but personally, I sometimes feel I have lost the connection. The connection to myself. And when I think about it, there is no real wonder how that happened. There is so much going on in our life (ok, at least speaking for myself again…). When you have a job, potentially kids, and other obligations to meet, there is usually not much left of the day. And then we spend this remaining time further distracting us, e.g., by surfing the internet on our smartphones, instead of checking every now and then what is going on within us.?

In my role as a coach, I often come across people that tell me they are tired, feel sad or depressed and not in touch with their selves, their partners, their kids, their friends. And while I believe there are plenty reasons for this, I also believe that modern technology and the distraction it provides is a big contributor. In consequence, one step towards feeling more connected these days might actually be this one: getting disconnected.?

But how? I am not na?ve and aware that many of us need to be available for their jobs. Anyhow, I highly encourage you to incorporate regular digital detox in your life. For example, you might want to try (at least on the weekends) “intermitted smartphone fasting”. This means abstaining from your smartphone for up to 16 hours daily, meaning within a 24-hour day. If 16 hours straight are completely unrealistic, remember “The more, the better” - and try it out.?

In case this article caught your attention, and you feel like “less smartphone usage sounds interesting and I’m going to give it a shot. But still, I feel there is more to my feeling of sadness, my feeling of being stressed, my restlessness, my lack of focus and my missing connection to myself”: feel free to reach out to me.?

I would like to close this article with a quote that I found on @Kruse, Sabine webpage: “Im Wald gibt es zwar kein WLAN aber die Verbindung ist besser.“ Free translation: “There is no WIFI in the forest but the connection is better.” Thanks for this one, Sabine. And thanks for?your?attention and reading this article until the end. Feel free to leave a comment, a like, or share this article.

<<It’s in you. Get in touch.>>

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Foto von?Jep Gambardella?von?Pexels