Why

The Technology Is/ Was Meant To Enhance Our Lives.
Has It Overrode The Very Purpose.

Is It Managing You / Your Behaviour / Your Relations / Your Life?

एक Walk स्वतःसाठी

Take Charge Of Your Life.

A Walk Towards Life.
Your Life, Your Style.

Your Digital Life Is Not Your Real One

It Always Feels Strange To Stop Doing Something You’ve Been Doing For Years, But When You Step Out Of The Pseudo World Within Your Phone, You Will Be Awakened To What You’ve Been Missing This Whole Time. Believe It Or Not, The Way You See The World Right Now Largely Has To Do With The Way You View Social Media. All Those Feeds Fill Our Brains And Become Our Reality. Being Suddenly Aware Of What Everyone’s Doing All The Time Amps Up The Comparison Game And Lessens Our Ability To Make Decisions Based Off Of What We Truly Want–and Not What Everyone Else Is Doing. Don’t Let Social Media And Technology Dictate The Life You Live; Go Live Your Real Life, The Way You Want.

Time To Love Yourself.

With So Much Comparison Going Around, It’s No Wonder That Self-love Is Strange To Understand. Every Picture On Social Media Gives A New Meaning To The Word “Perfect,” And “Beautiful.” When Your Reflection In The Mirror Doesn’t Add Up To The Images You See On Social Media, Your Self-esteem Goes Down. When We’re Constantly Comparing, There’s No Way We Live The Life We Were Always Meant To Be. It’s Time To Put Down That Smart Phone And Invest That Time In Developing Self-love.

Moments Won’t Just Pass You By

Memories Are Always Being Created, And If We Are Constantly Checking Our Phones, We’re Bound To Miss Something. It’s Simple Pleasures That Make Life More Fulfilling. It’s Time To Stop Letting Life Pass Us By And Start Experiencing All The Real World Has To Offer Us–instead Of Looking For It In A Tv Series Or An Instagram Account.

Source : Blue Osa

Getting Back To Creativity

With All The Energy The Digital World Drains From Us, There’s Less Time To Feel Motivated To Create, To Complete Our Goals, And To Chase Our Dreams. By Taking Time Back For Yourself, Inspiration Has Room To Rise Again. It’s Time To Remember What It Feels Like To Accomplish Something, To Dream Outside Of The Box, And To Chase The Life You Actually Get To Live.

Gain Your Control Back

When Was The Last Time You Completed Your Tasks And/Or To-do Lists On Time Without Procrastinating? The Digital World Is A Distraction That Easily Gets In The Way Of Managing Our Time. We Are Wasting Too Much Time On Something That Doesn’t Matter In The Long Run. It’s Time To Gain Back Control Of Your Sleep Patterns, Your Work Schedule, And Your Free Time.

How Long Should You Ditox?

A Week Is Typically A Good Time For A Digital Detox. However, If You’re Enjoying The Process, Why Not Extend It? Pick What Works Best For You, But Be Sure To Challenge Yourself.

Moments Are Passing Us By, And There’s A Life Out There That’s Waiting For You To Explore!

The Facts On Our Digital And Internet Addiction And The Need For Digital Detox

Scrolling Our Lives Away

Uk Adults Spend An Average Of 8 Hours 41 Minutes A Day On Screens (More Time Than They Are Asleep). We Now Spend An Average Of A Day A Week Online. Uk Children Spend 6 1/2 Hours A Day On Screens. The Average User Logs 2.15 Hours A Day On Social Media Alone – Up From 1.5 Hours In 2012. And Checks Their Smartphone Every 12 Minutes. A 2016 Study Estimates That We Tap, Swipe And Click On Our Devices 2,617 Times Each Day. 69% Of Uk Children Say Their Parents Spend Too Much Time On Their Mobile Device At Home. Uk Adults Now Spend A Total Of 25 Hours A Week Online – Up From 9 Hours A Week In 2005.

Growing Dependence

34% Of People Have Checked Facebook In The Last Ten Minutes. Two In Five Adults (40%) First Look At Their Phone Within Five Minutes Of Waking Up, Rising To 65% Of Those Aged Under 35. 66% Of Uk Smartphone Owners In A Study Self-reported Suffering From ‘nomophobia’, The Fear Of Losing Or Being Without Their Phones At Any Given Time – Obsessively Checking To Make Sure They Have Their Phone With Them, And Constantly Worrying About Losing It Somewhere. The First Inpatient Facility For Treating Internet Addiction In The Us Opened In 2013. China Has Opened 300 Teenage Bootcamps Imposing A Strict Digital Detox To Deal With Increasing Problems Of Teen Internet Addiction And Computer Addiction. 62% Of Polled Uk Adults Say They ‘hate’ How Much Time They Spend On Their Phone. More Than Two In Five (43%) Of Uk Adults Admit To Spending Too Much Time Online. A Study Found That Just Seeing The Facebook Logo Can Spark Cravings That Are Difficult To Ignore. 27% Of Uk Children Say Their Parents Have Double Standards About Technology. 46% Of Americans Say They Could Not Live Without Their Mobile Phones. A Recent Study By Binghamton University Found That Women Were More Likely To Exhibit Susceptibility To Smartphone Addiction Than Men. Dr. Richard Graham, Lead Technology Addiction Specialist At London’s Nightingale Hospital Sees Around 50 New Cases Of Digital Addiction Each Year.

Mental Health

Almost Half Of 18-34 Year Olds Said Their Social Media Feeds Made Them Feel Unattractive. A Study By The American Journal Of Preventive Medicine Found That Heavy Social Media Users Were Twice As Likely To Report Experiencing Social Isolation. In 2017, Instagram Was Rated As The Worst Social Media Platform For Its Impact On The Mental Health Of Young People. According To Research By University College London, Media-multitasking And Rapidly Switching From Task To Task Can Weaken Your Brain’s Anterior Cingulate Cortex, Which Is Involved In High-level Information And Emotion Processing.

Sleep

47% Of Adults Miss Out On Sleep Due To Internet Usage. 95% Of Adults In A Us Study Admitted To Using Some Type Of Screen In The Hour Leading Up To Bed*. (*Artificial Blue Light Emitting From Screens Increase Alertness And Suppresses The Hormone Melatonin By Up To 22% Which Negatively Impacts Sleep). 32% Of Adults Who Have Binge-watched A Series At Least Once In The Last Month Have Missed Out On Sleep As A Result. A Recent Study Showed That Teenagers With Screen Time Of More Than Four Hours Per Day Were 3.5x More Likely To Get Poor Sleep – Sleeping Fewer Than Five Hours At Night. They Were Also 49% Likelier To Need More Than One Hour To Fall Asleep.

Screens And Children

A Ucla Study Found That Pre-teens Who Were Deprived Of Screens For Five Days Through A Digital Detox Were Much Better At Reading People’s Emotions (Non-verbal Skills) Than Children Who Continued Using Screens. Many Uk Parents Find It Easier To Get Their Children To Do Homework, Go To Bed Or Have A Bath Than Turn Off Their Phones, Laptops, And Tvs, A Uk Poll Found. 6 Out Of 10 Americans Wish Their Family Members Would Unplug From Technology More Often. 60% Of Uk Parents Believe Their Child Spends Too Much Time On Their Mobile Device At Home A University Of Sheffield Study Highlights That Spending An Hour A Day On Social Media Reduces The Probability Of A Child Being Completely Happy With Their Life By 14%. A Study Has Found That Every Hour That Infants And Toddlers Aged Between 6 And 36 Months Used Touchscreen Devices Was Linked To 15.6 Minutes Less Sleep. New Research Being Presented At The 2017 Paediatric Academic Societies Meeting Finds That Every Additional 30 Minutes Of Hand-held Screen Time Is Linked To A 49% Increased Risk Of Expressive Speech Delay In Children Under Two Years Of Age. 22% Of 12-15 Year Olds Say That Binge-watching Series Has Led Them To Neglect Their School Work.

Sleep

47% Of Adults Miss Out On Sleep Due To Internet Usage. 95% Of Adults In A Us Study Admitted To Using Some Type Of Screen In The Hour Leading Up To Bed*. (*Artificial Blue Light Emitting From Screens Increase Alertness And Suppresses The Hormone Melatonin By Up To 22% Which Negatively Impacts Sleep). 32% Of Adults Who Have Binge-watched A Series At Least Once In The Last Month Have Missed Out On Sleep As A Result. A Recent Study Showed That Teenagers With Screen Time Of More Than Four Hours Per Day Were 3.5x More Likely To Get Poor Sleep – Sleeping Fewer Than Five Hours At Night. They Were Also 49% Likelier To Need More Than One Hour To Fall Asleep.

Blue Light And Digital Eye Strain

A Us Survey Found That More Than 73% Of Young Adults (Under 30) Suffer From Symptoms Of Digital Eye Strain From Screen Overuse, Including Dry, Irritated Eyes, Blurred Vision, Neck And Back Pain, And Headaches.

‘always-on’ Culture

60% Of People Say A Traditional Vacation/Holiday Does Not Relieve Their Stress With Many Admitting To Checking Emails And Taking Phone Calls While Away, Sometimes Multiple Times A Day. A Digital Detox Deals With Computer Addiction By Removing All Work-related Communications Allowing A Proper Break. Fifteen Per Cent Of Uk Adults Say Being Constantly Connected Makes Them Feel They Are Always At Work. Checking Work Emails Decreases Your Focus, As Well As Making You More Stressed. An ‘always On’ Culture With High Expectations To Monitor And Respond To Emails During Non-work Time May Prevent Employees From Ever Fully Disengaging From Work, Leading To Chronic Stress And Emotional Exhaustion.

Decreasing Human Connection

31% Of Internet Users Miss Out On Spending Time With Friends And Family. More Than Half (58%) Of Uk Adults Now Say They Use Text Messages At Least Once A Day To Communicate With Family And Friends, While Only 49% Meet People Face-to Face On Such A Regular Basis. However, The Majority Of Of Uk Adults Say They Would Actually Prefer To Meet (67%) Or Speak On The Phone (10%) Than Communicate By Text. More Than Half Of Uk Adults (54%) Admit That Connected Devices Interrupt Face-to-face Conversations With Friends And Family. 26% Of Adults Have Sent Text Or Instant Messages To Friends Or Family While In The Same Room. 21% Of Uk Children Feel Their Parents Don’t Listen To Them Properly Because They’re Constantly Picking Up Emails, Calls Or Texts On Their Mobiles 39% Of Uk Children Say They Sometimes Communicate With Their Parents By Text, Email And Social Media Whilst Being At Home At The Same Time.

Checking Your Phone Constantly For Facebook Or Twitter Notifications Is A Sure Sign That You May Be Suffering From Social Media Addiction. Feeling In A Low Mood When You Do Not Have Access To Social Media And Spending More Time Broadcasting Your Activities On Social Media Than Actually Spending Time Carrying Out Those Activities, Are Also Danger Signs.

  1. Do You Charge Your Phone Before Going To Bed In Case You Get A Late-night Text?
  2. Do You Sleep With Your Phone?
  3. Does Your Phone Sit On The Table While You Eat Your Breakfast, Lunch Or Dinner?
  4. Do You Check Your Email And Social Feeds Throughout Every Meal?
  5. Does The Thought Of Shutting Down Your Phone, Tablet Or Computer For An Extended Amount Of Time Make Your Heart Race?
  6. Are You Frustrated With Spending So Much Time Online, And Accomplishing Little Else?
  1. Does Your Partner, Kids Or Friends Complain They Never Have Your Full Attention Because Your Phone Is A Continual Distraction?
  2. Have You Put Your Favorite Hobbies On Hold Because Your Spare Time Is Spent Online?
  3. Do You Rarely Read An Article From Beginning To End?
  4. Do You Suffer From Dry And Itchy Eyes, Blurred Vision, General Fatigue, Back Pain, Neck Pain And Headaches Often?
  5. Do You Go Into Panic Mode When Your Phone Dies?
  6. Does Social Media Make You Feel Negative About Your Own Life?

Source : Alternative Daily

Why You (and Your Kids) Need to do A Digital Detox?

We were supposed to have flying cars by now. Instead, we got smart phones and social media. Even so, our technology is supposed to make our lives easier.  So why are so many people feeling anxious, stressed, and overwhelmed by the demands of their social networks, phones, entertainment-on-demand?  If access to information 24/7 is so great, why does it make us feel so uneasy? How can constant connectivity with friends and family feel so heavy? The answer is probably long and complicated. But we’ve summed up part of it.

You Have Become the Product

Somewhere along the way, we went from owning our technology, to our technology owning us.  The Internet gave us a timeless, endless web of all of the information ever. Then smart phones put all of that – and more, in our pockets and purses. Quite suddenly, we have more information than we could ever consume in the palm of our hands.  But at the same time something else was happening. Our use of technology changed from a tool we want to use into a tool we must use. The devices and services crept further into our personal lives, demanding more of our attention and engagement.

Very quickly, the time we were supposed to be saving through technology became time we were spending using technology. We were left with the perpetual feeling that there just isn’t enough time. Most of the content we consume is also watching us, recording us, and building a digital version of us. That digital version of us is quite valuable. So the true owners of technology need you to be as engaged in the technology as possible. Because you are the product they are selling.

Check Out Anytime You Like, But You Can Never Leave

Anyone who has ever tried to quit Facebook knows: they don’t make it easy. It is no accident that while the digital version of us grows more detailed and interconnected, our ability to opt-out becomes increasingly difficult.
The providers of technology and content design those things with our most base instincts in mind. It is all organized to make you feel something (dopamine!), to get you emotionally invested in the digital world.
Unfortunately, our investment in the digital world can cost us in the real world. While the convenience of having a computer in your hand is undeniable, there are trade-offs. When considering a digital detox, ask yourself these questions: <br>
– Are you aware of the trade-offs inherent in your technology use? <br>
– How much control over your investment in technology do you really have?<br>
– How does your use of technology actually make you feel?<br>
A digital detox will give you the answers.
So Connected, So Lonely: Signs You Need A Digital Detox

Before we get to how dopamine works and the emerging research on the dangers of technology use, let’s look at some signs that you need a digital detox. 

  • Feeling anxious
  • Feeling depressed
  • Lack of concentration
  • Poor sleep 
  • Feeling lonely or isolated
  • Lack of motivation
  • Constantly feeling distracted
  • Won’t leave your house without your phone
  • Walk around with phone in your hand 
  • Feel the need to check you phone for no particular reason
  • Fear that you are missing out on something? 
  • Tired of keeping up with your profiles, updates, and connections? 
  • Feel pressured to respond, to comment, to “like”, to review? 
  • Text while driving? 
  • Text while having a meal with friends or family?
  • Eat with your phone on the table? 
  • Turn the TV on as soon as you get home
  • Leave the TV on to keep you company  
  • Obsess or fixate on getting comments, likes, or messages?
  • Find yourself avoiding going into public 
  • Sending texts to avoid conversations
  • Falling asleep with laptop, TV, or phone 
  • Taking pictures of everything
  • You can’t seem to finish this article

If you can relate to several of the above, you just might be addicted to the dopamine rush that is a common part of most of what we do online. In fact, social media and other interactive forms of technology purposefully target your natural dopamine response. Here is how it works.

Chasing the Dopamine Dragon

Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter. It helps control how your brain sees rewards and pleasure. Dopamine and its corresponding receptors in your brain also determine how you respond emotionally to various stimuli. This response is important for many reasons – but it is also how we can get into trouble. The dopamine response is how we see things that will be rewarding. Once the dopamine response associates certain things with pleasure, it compels us to take action toward those things. This relationship between pleasure and action is what makes dopamine a major factor in things like addiction and risk-taking behaviors. In fact, dopamine release is the basis of addiction to nicotine, cocaine, and gambling. When researchers use functional MRI’s to view the brains of people using social media, their brain activity looks much like those with substance or gambling addictions getting their “fix.” Technology use – particularly smart-phones and social media, trigger our dopamine response in a variety of ways. When we get a text, a “like”, a photo, or a comment, our brains release dopamine and we feel good. So we associate social media and smart phones with good news, social validation, attention, and social engagement.

Social media is particularly devious. Research shows that dopamine is released even when we merely view pictures of attractive faces. So just browsing through Instagram gives you a dopamine rush. In fact, dopamine release is the basis of addiction to nicotine, cocaine, and gambling. When researchers use functional MRI’s to view the brains of people using social media, their brain activity looks much like those with substance or gambling addictions getting their “fix.”  Technology use – particularly smart-phones and social media, trigger our dopamine response in a variety of ways. When we get a text, a “like”, a photo, or a comment, our brains release dopamine and we feel good. So we associate social media and smart phones with good news, social validation, attention, and social engagement. Social media is particularly devious. Research shows that dopamine is released even when we merely view pictures of attractive faces. So just browsing through Instagram gives you a dopamine rush. Interactive platforms like facebook and snapchat can also trigger more than just dopamine. Oxytocin, the “love” or bonding hormone is also released when we share our personal or difficult things and receive supportive comments. The cyclical or habitual pursuit of these rewards is what creates the compulsion loop.

The Compulsion Loop

Once dopamine has keyed in on these things as pleasure devices, it begins to compel us to seek them out. That is why occasional use quickly becomes a compulsion to continually check our phones for texts, email, comments or likes – even things like the weather and football scores.  Further, the more interactive the interface, the deeper we tend to habitually engage. Like substance addiction, we will be compelled to seek out more. This can be both frequency and intensity. The result is obsessive pleasure-seeking behavior. Online and video game designers purposefully create scenarios that target our dopamine response to create and sustain these compulsion loops. Social media, by design, is one big compulsion loop. It seeks to keep us engaged as much as possible by offering incremental rewards. And we are often in the “loop” even though we may not realize it at the time. 

Screen Time and Your Health

Our signs you need a digital detox were not just pulled from thin air. We’ve looked into a lot of research on the effects of screen time and technology use on health. 

Here are just a few highlights:

  • Risk of depression and anxiety increase significantly with use of social media. 
  • The more social media accounts the higher the risk of depression and anxiety.  
  • Social media use is associated with an increase in narcissism
  • Media devices harm sleep. Bedtime access to and use of a media device were significantly associated with inadequate sleep quantity, poor sleep quality, and excessive daytime sleepiness. 
  • In-bed device use is associated with sleep and mood dysfunction in adults. participants with high in-bed ESM use were more likely to have insomnia, anxiety, and short sleep duration on weeknights

The Iphone Effect

“The Iphone effect” is the name given by researchers who studied the influence of phones on a host of different measures of social and personal engagement. 

In short, the Iphone effect it is not good.

The study looked at how the mere presence of an iphone on the table during an interaction resulted in significantly lower conversation quality and lower empathy levels. The effects were found regardless of sex, age, ethnicity, and mood of the participants. 

The mere presence of a phone can have negative effects on closeness, connection, and conversation quality. These results were most pronounced when individuals were discussing personally meaningful topics. 

According to the researchers, just the presence of a cell phone can have a negative effect on interpersonal relationships. They propose that removing the devices will lead to more feelings of closeness, trust, and empathy — particularly when trying to have a meaningful conversation.  Additional research suggests that phones being present can interfere with interpersonal connections and can potentially create emotional rifts between people who regularly spend time together.

Source : Sage journals

The Internet Paradox

Researchers back in the ‘90’s saw this coming. Early studies on internet use suggested a troubling trend: the more connected, the more likely you are to feel lonely, alienated, and isolated. Subsequent research fleshes this paradox out by looking into the type of social media engagement. What they call “passive consumption” is much more detrimental to your health. Passive consumption of social media is linked with increased depression, whereas more active thoughtful engagement seems to arouse less negative outcomes. Social media can be a kind of amplifier of your current emotional state. What you bring into it will often increase. So if you are neurotic, depressed, or tend toward loneliness, social media will cultivate more of those feelings. In general, the internext paradox is validated by a lot of research that supports the old adage of quality over quantity.

Screen Time and Kids

A growing body of literature is associating excessive and addictive use of digital media with physical, psychological, social and neurological adverse consequences. Research on screen time and children is focusing more on mobile devices use, and studies suggest that duration, content, after-dark-use, media type and the number of devices are key components determining screen time effects. 

Physical health effects of excessive screen time in children has been associated with: 

  • Poor sleep
  • Higher Risk of Obesity
  • Higher risk for cardiovascular diseases and insulin resistance
  • Poor stress regulation 
  • Impaired vision
  • Reduced bone density

Psychological & neurological effects of excessive screen time in children: 

  • Depressive symptoms and suicidal ideations
  • ADHD-related behavior 
  • Antisocial behavior and decreased prosocial behavior 
  • Addictive screen time use decreases social coping
  • Excessive tech use in children can cause autism-like behaviors
  • Brain structural changes related to cognitive control and emotional regulation
  • Screen time reduction is effective in decreasing ADHD-related behavior

Source : pubmed.gov | Pediatrics

A Digital Detox as a Buffer

The anticipation of good news or good feelings is a powerful driver of our behavior. With smart phones, tablets, and laptops we can live our entire lives with nothing separating us from our next hit of dopamine.  The power our technology has to make us more efficient, more informed, and more engaged can just as easily make us more complacent, lonely, and disconnected from what truly matters to us.  Luckily there is a solution to all of this. You can create a buffer between your real life and your use of technology. Incorporate a digital detox into your routine.