The
first month of 2018 has already flown by. But fret not, February too can be a month of
self-improvement and a good time to restructure a few things to have a
fulfilling year ahead. Of late, the desire for healthy living has prompted the
need to make a few lifestyle changes. And the latest to make it to that list is
a different kind of cleansing – the digital detox or social media detox.
Rishi Patwardhan, a business consultant who moved out of busy
Mumbai two years ago, to ‘live’ his life in Goa in Assagao, acknowledges this
phenomenon. Patwardhan says, “Being constantly wired and connected is hurting
our mental, physical and emotional health, thereby making the need to
disconnect a new trend. All over the world, people are starting to see that
staring into your phones and only virtually interacting with other people or
devices is probably not the best way to live a full life.”
Surprisingly, this rising trend is said to have erupted from
Asia and is fast gaining popularity in the West. Celebrities like Ed Sheeran
credit ‘detoxing’ as the secret to finding happiness in a world over-saturated
by social media. According to British newspaper The Sun, after quitting Twitter
temporarily in July, Sheeran said that his decision to abstain from Twitter has
‘massively’ improved his life. And Sheeran isn’t the only star who believes
that staying off social media is beneficial. Indian celebs such as Ranbir
Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut have in the past been vocal about their choice to
stay away from social media.
In the UK, digital marketing agency, Greenlight, did research
about the detoxing trend. They found that 53 per cent of those surveyed wanted
to step away from their devices to spend more quality time with their family
and friends, which means that the emotional side of too much connectivity is
something that is starting to weigh on people’s minds. About 6 per cent cited
information overload as a source of stress and about 40 per cent said they were
sick of the constant social media updates and push notifications from their
friend lists. All of that ‘information overload’ is causing clinical
depression, lack of (or interrupted) sleep, and anxiety when mobile users can’t
check their devices or can’t ‘share’ what they are doing online.
Although there’s no strong record of this growing trend having
reached India in a mainstream fashion, a few aware individuals from the masses
are sure moving in that direction. Bunty Asnodkar, an entrepreneur from Margao,
admits to have begun the practice. Bunty says, “It is very difficult to not be
connected as my business completely depends on it. But it also takes away from
the time we spend with our family and friends. I do not know if I can afford to
be offline for more than an hour, but we friends have begun moving in that
direction in a small way. Whenever we go out for dinner, we stack up our phones
on one table and no one is allowed to touch their phones. The first person to
break this rule, pays the entire bill. It has worked so far. (laughs)”
Medha Kakkar, a yoga instructor, has a few tips for those who
want to try the detox routine. Kakkar says, “The first thing I wanted to do was
to remove myself from social networks. Starting with baby steps, I took a long
holiday weekend away from social media.” It wasn’t an abrupt transition. Kakkar
informed everyone not to expect her to answer social media messages or
comments. She then deleted social media apps from her phone and muted messaging
apps. She adds, “My mantra is that 5 to 8 pm is ‘no phone’ time. For people who
wish to try this, I’d suggest deleting the most addictive, time-wasting app
from your phone. For me, this absolutely was my Facebook app. I found it is
absolutely useless to check it multiple times on my phone. Now, I just check it
through a desktop computer. When we get bored, we immediately reach for our
phones. During my break from social media, I found that when I got bored, it
was a good thing. It gave me motivation to get back into leisure reading and
doing productive work.”
India
hasn’t fully caught-on to the digital detox trend, but it is going to be very
important to keep a little bit of balance in our world as technology keeps
advancing and encroaching on our ever-shrinking personal lives. Digital detox
is a good excuse to just look for places where you can go and the activities
you can do. Toss all your digital devices into a corner and go back to the way
you used to be.
