We’re well and truly in the age of digital.
Everywhere you look, at least one person is on their phone, laptop or iPad – and that’s a serious understatement.
But is being so constantly and completely connected actually good for us?
Recently, many have taken to social media to say they’ve undergone a ‘digital detox’ and that it’s changed them for the better.
And yes, I do see the irony that people have used digital means to share that they’ve detoxed from digital things.
But regardless, I decided to try a digital detox myself to see if these TikTokers and Instagrammers are actually on to something…
The rules of my Digital Detox:
For one week, I abided by the following rules:
- No phone usage for the first hour of the day.
- Throughout the day, only a total of 30 minutes can be spent on social media.
- No phone usage for the final hour of the day.
The hypothesised results of my Digital Detox:
Before I started my digital detox, I spoke to Dr Erin Bowe – a Clinical Psychologist and author of Social Media Detox for Mums: A New Way to Find Balance – to see if there are any legitimate benefits to detoxing from the online world.
“Research indicates that even a week off social media can reduce anxiety. People generally sleep better, and reconsider how they want to spend their free time,” Erin told me.
“Once you’re in a loop of feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, it can be challenging to keep up with other activities that you used to enjoy. And breaking out of that cycle isn’t easy, but working through the feelings of ‘I can’t be bothered’ or the frustration of not being ‘good at’ hobbies is worth it. If you don’t want to look back on your life and say, ‘I’m so grateful for all that time I spent on Instagram,’ it’s worth rethinking your leisure time. ”
Erin also shared that the biggest challenge of a digital detox is “finding new ways to cope with discomfort”.
“You want to have replacement strategies in place before abruptly quitting, if possible. Having stacks of physical books around the house, fidget toys, increasing exercise, having something to do with your hands helps. Will power alone won’t work,” she advised me.
“And be kind to yourself when you’re confronted with how reliant you’ve become on technology to soothe or distract from unpleasant emotions.”
After speaking to Erin, I became excited for my digital detox and was certain I’d reap the benefits Erin outlined – reduced anxiety and better sleep…
The actual results of my Digital Detox:
Day 1
The first day of my digital detox fell on a Sunday and I thought to myself before going to bed on Saturday evening how easy this challenge was going to be…
I was wrong.
The first rule, as listed above, is no phone usage for the first hour of the day.
And my god, when I woke up on Sunday morning I was desperate to see if I had any messages.
I didn’t give in to my temptations to check; I stayed off my phone for the whole hour.
But let me tell you, it was rough.
My anxiety really kicked in; I kept thinking, ‘What if there’s been an emergency and a loved one is desperately trying to contact me?!’
To distract myself, I was unusually productive for a Sunday morning; I made breakfast, ate it while reading a book, cleaned the dishes, put a load of laundry on and then did a general tidy up of my whole apartment.
And when the hour was finally up, I checked my messages and, of course, there were only a few trivial ones – like Wordle results from my friends – that did not need to be replied to in the very first hour of my day. Phew.
Throughout the rest of the day, because I was now monitoring my every phone movement, I became a bit shocked to learn how much time I actually spend on my phone.
I caught myself on multiple occasions thoughtlessly – as if, almost on autopilot – reaching for my phone; whenever I was waiting for the kettle to boil or when I rode the elevator down to my car, I instinctively went to open social media.
I did manage to stop myself on each occasion but it was very eye-opening. It seems that I can’t spend a few minutes not doing something; I need my phone and social media to fill those tiny voids.
In the afternoon, I allowed myself to have a look at Instagram and would’ve sworn that I only spent 20-30 minutes doing so… But after looking at my phone’s screen time analysis I obviously did it for much longer! Yikes.
Finally, near the end of the day, I became a bit nervous about the no phone one hour before bed rule.
For years, I’ve been unable to fall asleep without something on. I usually pop The Simpsons or some other show I’ve seen a million times on my phone, slip my Airpods in and fall asleep listening to the dialogue.
Instead, I read a book for an hour before going to sleep rather than watching TV.
When I felt my eyes starting to droop, I stopped, turned out the light and then lied there in the darkness.
And while it took much longer than usual, I did eventually fall asleep.
Sadly, at about 3am I woke up and tried incredibly hard to get back to sleep ‘naturally’. I counted imaginary sheep in my head and did a deep breathing exercise… all to no avail.
I love him dearly but I annoyingly couldn’t focus properly on anything aside from my fiancé’s snores.
It got to 3.40am before I cracked; I grabbed my phone and Airpods and started an episode of The Simpsons.
I obviously fell asleep as I don’t remember anything aside from the first scene…
How I went: No phone usage for the first hour of the day, 74 minutes spent on social media (Instagram – 58 minutes, Twitter – 14 minutes, Facebook – 2 minutes), and no phone usage for the final hour of the day, although I did use my phone in the middle of the night.
Day 2
Not using my phone for the first hour of Day 2 was much easier as I was heading to the office.
When my alarm went off, I got up, put sunscreen on, brushed my teeth, got dressed and made my way to the train station – I wasn’t tempted to check my phone once because I was always focused on doing something else.
And while I usually watch an episode of something on my phone during my commute to the office, I found reading a book was an easy switch.
However, throughout Day 2, I had the same problem as Day 1.
When I waited for the kettle to boil, during the few minutes before a meeting commenced and while my lunch was heating up in the microwave, my natural instinct was to go on my phone and open up social media.
I didn’t let myself do it though. Every time I subconsciously reached for my phone during various ‘dull moments’ during the day, I tried my darndest to put it back into my pocket.
At night, I stayed off my phone successfully but had the same issue of falling asleep – and staying asleep – without a show on in the background.
How I went: No phone usage for the first hour of the day, 28 minutes spent on social media (Instagram – 14 minutes, Twitter – 3 minutes, Facebook – 11 minutes), and no phone usage for the final hour of the day.
I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of the rest of my ‘digital detox’ week; I’ll just list my actual results from days three to seven with a sentence or two of commentary…
Day 3
No phone usage for the first hour of the day, 35 minutes spent on social media (Instagram – 27 minutes, Twitter – 6 minutes, Facebook – 2 minutes), and no phone usage for the final hour of the day.
I thought I had nailed my digital detox by the end of Day 3; I’d successfully followed all the rules two days in a row. And so, I got sloppy…
Day 4
No phone usage for the first hour of the day, 125 minutes spent on social media (Instagram – 91 minutes, Twitter – 34 minutes, Facebook – 0 minutes), and no phone usage for the final hour of the day.
This was the worst day of my digital detox; I spent a whopping 2 hours and 5 minutes mindlessly scrolling social media. Yikes.
Day 5
No phone usage for the first hour of the day, 80 minutes spent on social media (Instagram – 32 minutes, Twitter – 45 minutes, Facebook – 3 minutes), and no phone usage for the final hour of the day.
Day 5 was where I became frustrated with the digital detox; several times during the day I thought, ‘I want to look at Instagram and Twitter. What’s so wrong with that?’ As a result, I wasn’t as careful with monitoring my social media usage for the rest of the experiment.
Day 6
No phone usage for the first hour of the day, 62 minutes spent on social media (Instagram – 46 minutes, Twitter – 16 minutes, Facebook – 0 minutes), and no phone usage for the final hour of the day.
Day 7
No phone usage for the first hour of the day, 89 minutes spent on social media (Instagram – 78 minutes, Twitter – 0 minutes, Facebook – 11 minutes), and no phone usage for the final hour of the day.
Final thoughts:
Ultimately, did I feel any benefits from the digital detox? A few. I liked that I was more productive in the mornings by staying off my phone for the first hour of my day.
I also liked that by putting a limit on social media time, I became more ‘present’; I noticed things like the beautiful sound of birds chirping and the incredible smell of freshly made coffee much more often.
To be honest, I didn’t really notice a change in my mental health or anything like that by limiting social media during my week of digital detoxing. I probably needed to give it more than a week to reap those benefits…
So will I continue? I will definitely stick to staying off my phone for the first hour of my day. I will also continue to monitor and limit how much time I spend on social media but I probably won’t be nearly as strict about it – I mean, I do enjoy being present but I also enjoy social media.
As for no phone usage for the last hour of my day, that will definitely fall by the wayside.
I really need noise to fall asleep and my phone with Airpods is the only way to do that without disturbing my fiancé. I don’t care what the experts say; I personally sleep better that way!
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