The Age of Digital Detox

I remember in my preteens, whenever I was stressed, there would be moments of mental solitude. In these moments, I felt my mind decompress, and I would feel much better. I asked around and found similar feelings amongst my peers. These moments are more rare now, as they have been filled by the enchanting allure of any number of social media apps and games. To many it feels like we have sacrificed our ability to healthily process our stress and emotional turmoil. And for what? For a few fleeting moments of the same "happiness" which could be found in the rat of Skinner's box. So, I asked myself, how could I reobtain the inner peace I once had? The answer I came to was digital detoxing.

 

To start, a "digital detox” is not clearly defined. A detox can be as little as restricting the time you spend on a digital device, to a complete abstention from the internet. Both methods have been shown to have positive impacts on individuals depending on variation and degree. In my own circumstance I decided on a 48-hour full detox from the internet, and even enlisted the help of a few friends who would participate.

 

“ I am addicted to my phone ” 

Even bringing ourselves to admit such a common fact for so many individuals is exceedingly difficult. When I asked my friends whether they believed they were addicted, I got two main responses: (1) rationalizing begins: “I am not addicted, I only spend a few hours on my phone” and (2) full admittance that they believed they had an addiction, but did not consider it to be worth their time to quit. Many simply cannot fathom the idea, according to how they perceive their self-concept, of having formed an addiction. Our first day greatly challenged these intuitions. Our first few hours were filled with reading, chess, and piano. But, even within these few hours we began to feel that something felt off. Despite all the activities we did being highly engaging they felt dull and uninspiring. We all experienced an increase in irritability and general moodiness, which is around when we realized we had been having internet withdrawals. In the interest of good ethics I tried to explain what was going on, but most were not interested in my “rationalizations”. 

 

Halfway through the day, some participants started to fling insults at the entire digital detox idea in the first place. I was told I had brought them, on their days off from school nonetheless, to participate in an exercise in futility. They could not understand that their irritation and inability to get excited without the presence of their technological devices was concerning in and of itself. The last night was very interesting for me, though. We all put our books down, and talked for hours. Those brief hours of real contemplation and discussion are what I had originally set out to find. 

 

After the detox was over I found it hilarious that I received unanimous praise for the productivity, and clarity that those that participated felt. The same irritated bunch that had been complaining of boredom and a ruined weekend was now praising me. It was a picture perfect example of mood congruent memory. My friends’ opinion of the trip had changed along with their moods.

 

In the end, the trip was a great success. However, despite many acknowledging the benefits they perceived in consequence of the detox, only one friend managed to meaningfully change their habits surrounding technology usage. I myself have introduced screen time limits onto my devices, which has greatly improved my ability to persist without their allure. In my opinion, due to the revelations and insight that many of my friends received, I consider the experiment to be a success and would fully recommend it to anyone else.

 

Works Cited

Cherry, K. (2023, October 31). How to do a digital detox (and why you should try it). Verywell

Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-do-a-digital-detox-4175289

Mirbabaie, M., Stieglitz, S., & Marx, J. (2022). Digital detox. Business & Information Systems

Engineering, 64(2), 239–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-022-00747-x

Sims, S. (2025, January 22). Digital detoxing gains allure. The New York Times.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/travel/digital-detox