Why muting that smartphone or giving up on your social feed is good for both body and mind.
Staring at our social media feeds on our smart devices may be pleasurable in the moment, but pleasurable behaviours are very addictive.
Thanks to ever-present technology, research shows that the average person’s attention span has dropped over the past decade from twelve seconds to a mere eight – shorter than the attention span of a goldfish. Social media has a lot to do with this.
June 30 marks Social Media Day – a day that celebrates all things social, from your Facebook feed to all those selfies snapped. Instead of burying your face deeper into your smartphone, why not mark the day with a digital detox? Here is how:
- Plan to enjoy (and not regret) missing out on what everyone else is doing – remember JOMO – the joy of missing out?
- Be prepared with real books, paper maps and even written down phone numbers.
- Commit to changing one habit at a time, possibly staying off Instagram for at least one day.
- Plan activities that will occupy and entertain you such doing some laps in your community pool or gym – no chance of using your phone in there.
- Protect your body! Combat digital eye strain, which can cause dryness, blurred vision and headaches by following the 20-20-20 rule. For every 20 minutes, you look at a screen, look up and at an object 20 feet in the distance for 20 seconds.
- Get a detox buddy to keep you motivated.
If you really want to get ambitious about your digital detox, Mute is an app all about living less on your phone. It allows you to set detox goals to help break habits – it really makes you feel good about not being glued to your phone.
