Digital Detox: Why You Should Step Away from Your Phone — And How To Do It

Written by Dafna Ben-Yehoshoua, ONBOARDdigital Account Manager

In 2020, being always-on is par for the course. The internet has become so ubiquitous to everything we do, that many of us feel anxious if we can’t find our phone or lose our wi-fi connection.

There’s no question that our digital devices are incredibly useful. They keep us connected to friends and family, they’re an inseparable part of many people’s work, they help us navigate in unfamiliar surroundings, they keep us up-to-date on the news, they’re a quick and easy way to shop, and they entertain us with an endless supply of videos, podcasts, TV shows, e-books and more. Throw a global pandemic into the mix, and our internet connection feels more vital than ever.

But there is also a dark side to being hyper-connected. Screen time often comes at the expense of other — more useful and beneficial — activities, and excessive use of social media has been shown to trigger feelings of depression, anxiety and isolation.

How much is too much? And what can we do about it? We’ve gathered some data on the time spent using digital devices and what that does to users — and some ideas on how to moderate internet use and restore a healthy balance with our screens.

Our digital addiction, in numbers

In 2018, the global average of time spent using the internet per day was 6 hours and 42 minutes. That’s over a third of our waking hours, or 101 days of the year.

Much of that time is increasingly spent on mobile devices. In 2019, the average U.S. adult spent 3 hours and 43 minutes a day on their phone — 2 hours and 57 minutes in apps, and 26 minutes on a mobile browser, on average. 2019 was also the year when the time being spent on mobile devices had surpassed the time spent watching TV for the first time.

Not surprisingly, the apps people use most on their phones — for 2 hours and 24 minutes on average — are social media apps. COVID-19 has driven that number higher, as more users started “doomscrolling” (scrolling endlessly on social media apps to stay up-to-date on the latest news related to the pandemic), and using social media to stay connected with friends and family. According to a recent report published by Global Web Index, in May 2020 social media use increased by 40% compared to January 2020.

And the way we use our phones is further evidence of our need to feel always-on. While we do occasionally stare at the screen for long stretches of time, when reading a long article or watching a stream of TikTok videos, we more often tend to check our phone multiple times a day, for a couple of minutes each time.

In 2019, Americans checked their phones 96 times a day, or roughly every 10 minutes. More interestingly, people tend to switch from one screen activity to another every 20 seconds. This could be why 28% of Americans report they are online “almost constantly”.

The adverse effects of being always-on

What is all this time online doing to us?

In a survey conducted in 2017 by the American Psychological Association,18% of US adults reported technology use as a significant source of stress. Stress was higher among “constant checkers”, who checked their email, texts and social media accounts multiple times a day. A study published in 2018 found that using social media in bed prior to going to sleep increased the likelihood of experiencing short sleep duration, insomnia, and anxiety.

The urge to constantly check our devices also has a negative effect on our ability to concentrate: many can attest to feeling distracted by the internet at work or in school. This phenomenon is called CPA, or continuous partial attention — a hyper alert state, in which we are constantly scanning everything around us but not giving our full attention to any one thing.

CPA pervades our social lives as well. A 2018 study from the University of British Columbia found that people using their smartphones during face-to-face interactions felt more distracted and distant compared to interactions where they were not using their phones.

And then there is the issue of time. How many of us have felt that least some of the time spent online could be spent more productively doing other things? Being with family and friends, reading, engaging in hobbies, learning new skills, or even taking an aimless walk around the neighbourhood.

These factors are why an increasing number of people are feeling the need to pull away from time-sucking devices. A survey conducted by Global Web Index in 2018 found that 70% of internet users in the US and UK have tried to moderate their digital consumption in some way. And since 2010, searches for “digital detox” have gone up significantly:

How to actually do a digital detox

What can you do to curb your digital habit? Here are some suggestions, ranging from simple modifications to more radical solutions.

1. Disabling notifications — Notifications are often the culprit luring us back into our devices. You can disable push notifications from apps through your device’s settings, or through the settings of each individual app.
2. Restricting use during specific times — Put devices out of reach during times when they could be distracting: when dining with family or friends, before going to sleep, when performing a task for work, when reading a book, etc.
3. Setting a daily time to go online — Decide that you only check personal emails, texts and social media once a day at a specific time, for example, 8pm every night. Ideally you would also turn off notifications from those sources, so you are not tempted to peek before the designated time.
4. Setting app limits — Ironically enough, there are apps you can download to your phone to limit the use of other apps. For Android users, the Digital Wellbeing app has an App Timer feature, and iOS users can use the App Limits feature on Screen Time. If those don’t work for you, there are plenty of other apps, as well as browser extensions to keep you off certain apps or websites.
5. Deleting apps — We are more prone to endless scrolling on our mobile devices than on laptops or desktop computers. Deleting the offender apps from your device is a radical but efficient way of cutting back on scrolling time, but you would have to resist the temptation to reinstall them.
6. A digital fast — Try going device-free for a short period of time, like a day or a week. All that freed up time might encourage you to reduce your daily digital consumption in the long term.
7. Switching to a “dumb phone” — If you’re finding your smartphone and all its sophisticated features too alluring, maybe it’s time to ditch it completely and go back to using a dumb phone. Remember the days when all you could do on a mobile phone was calling and texting?
8. Digital detox retreat — if you’re having a hard time remembering what no-screens, real-world activities look like, this may be the solution for you. In the past few years, various versions of digital detox retreats have sprung up all over the globe — from off-the-beaten-path cabins that simply have no phone or Wi-Fi service, to hotels that lock guests’ phones in a box.

Our lives will never be completely internet-free, and there is no reason for them to be — the internet has countless benefits that improve our lives daily. The key is to be intentional with our use of digital devices and create a balance that allows us to take back control over our time, mental health, and relationships.

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