Digital Detox: “No Phone Zone”
According to Brainy quotes, Emilio Esteves American actor and writer, once said, “There is a part of me that still wants to go out and grab a backpack — not take a cell phone or even a camera and just get out there and experience the world and travel. I have yet to do that, but some day I hope.” I think that this quote perfectly articulates the extreme dependency that society has implemented on our technological devices and in turn their respecitve cruciality to modern day life. Further, my own personal life is not exempt from this societal norm and I too have felt the pressures and dependency to my technology and especially to that of my cell phone and computer. Specifically in high school, I remember feeling intense anxiety and stress associated with being on my phone and wondering when I would receive notifications from certain applications or people associated with them. I specifically recall times experiencing confusion when I thought I had received a message or notification just to find there had not been one. After researching into this topic I found out that I was experiencing phantom vibration syndrome which is a direct sensation that is described as a psychological hallucination when a person thinks they are receiving a notification or alert when in actuality they are not. This goes to prove how detrimental it is that we are aware of our technological usage as there are obvious implications associated respectively with profound physical and psychological effects. For a long time, I naively questioned why this physical dependency had occurred and what was fueling it? However, years lated with a much altered perspective and mindset I now know the answer to this troubling question: the designers of these applications have the goal of generating their products to be addicting in nature. According to an article titled “Nir Eyal: The Psychology of Building Addictive Products” written by Silvia Li Sum she provides the evidence that companies utilize habit forming behaviors in order to make consumers or users to be addicted their products and keep them coming back for more.
With this knowledge and the influence from external forces that make it hard for us to put our phones down, it is difficult to imagine tactics to combat this type of behavior and more over a justification to do so. According to an article titled “What’s all this fuse about “digital detox — and does it really work?” written by Shirin Ghaffary she writes about the numerous reasons why particpating in activie awareness with using technology as well as cleansing or “unplugging” from society is essential in today’s day and age. Some recommendations or potentail ways to limit social and technological interaction includes a timed cleanse from social media, trying to decrease screen time, as well as participating in limitation on applications. Personally, I have decided to make changes in my life to combat my own addiction and natural attraction to technology in today’s time. Further, I have recently implemented wearing blue-light glasses that can help prevent the irritation and unknown effects of brightness from technology on my eyes. Additionally, my friends and I will implement a rule while hanging out or spending time with one another called a “no phone zone” which implies that no one can use their phone while interacting with one another to promote better in-person experiences and limiting outside influence. Lastly, I choose to spend my free time using technological applications that are not focused on likes or interaction with others and try to play stress relieving games to offer a better alternative than constant social and technological dependence. There is much more to alter and navigate as time goes on to best integrate reality as well as technological usage, but it is promising that there is growing awareness.
