7 realistic ways to actually stick to a digital detox
Throughout the year, we’re constantly hyperconnected, with our smartphones becoming an extension of our hands. Between emails, notifications and social media, TV shows, movies and conversations with friends, we’re constantly checking our phones—both for work and in our free time. Several studies have shown that smartphone addiction can negatively impact our mental health, exacerbating anxiety and depressive symptoms. This happens because being constantly connected keeps our brains in a state of constant alertness.
The problem becomes even more evident when we feel the need to check our phones constantly, even while on vacation. Although everyone’s main desire during vacation is to “unplug” and step away from the routines of everyday life, many of us find ourselves under a beach umbrella staring at our smartphones. Maybe you picked it up to check the time and while you were at it, you checked your emails. And then the urge to check Instagram to see what others are doing on vacation was just too strong. You put it down and go back to your book, but after five lines, you pick it up again to check the weather app. And while you’re at it, you share a story from the beach. You do it without really knowing why—as if you feel the need to and can’t tear yourself away—but at the same time, you sense that this constant attachment to your smartphone isn’t doing you any good; it takes you away from what you’re doing, even if it’s just relaxing under the beach umbrella.
But weren’t we supposed to unplug?
Summer vacation is the perfect time to try putting into practice something we’re not used to doing during the year: a digital detox. This doesn’t mean turning off your phone or not looking at it all day, but rather giving priority back to your physical and mental presence, which is what we need to enjoy a truly rejuvenating vacation.
It’s not about how much time we spend on social media, but all those moments—even brief ones—when we check our apps
“For years, we’ve measured the problem in terms of screen time, as if everything depended on the number of hours spent in front of a smartphone,” explains Alessio Carciofi, a university professor and digital detox expert. “But two hours spent watching a movie don’t necessarily cause the same fatigue as a hundred brief checks of your smartphone spread throughout the day. What often wears us down is the constant switching back and forth between the screen and the real world.”
A study that tracked 277 people for seven months, analysing over 13 million digital interactions, suggests exactly this: “Overload doesn’t depend solely on the time spent online, but on how often we interrupt what we’re doing,” explains Carciofi. These are quick, almost automatic checks. They last only a few seconds, but each time they break the flow of the experience we’re having.
“This is what I observe during the digital detox retreats I organise, such as the most recent one in Val di Fassa, at a mountain hut at 2,000 meters. People arrive worried about the idea of being without their phones. After a few hours, they discover that the real challenge is something else: staying fully immersed in what they’re doing. On vacation, then, turning everything off isn’t always the solution. It may be enough to start protecting certain moments, leaving them intact.
The benefits of a digital detox on vacation
Taking a break from your smartphone while on vacation doesn’t mean cutting yourself off from the world, but it can help you reconnect with your surroundings. And the benefits are immediately apparent:
