Digitally Disconnecting Can Be the Best Habit of All
According to a Datareportal study published earlier this year, 68% of the world's population uses mobile phones. The same report indicates that there are 5.160 million internet users in the world, a 64.4% of the world's population is online right now. Social networks have 4.760 million users in total. It demonstrates the intense attraction that the modern world experiences to be connected to smart devices.
The Woman Post | Jennyfer Solano
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If you woke up today and the first thing you did was look at your mobile and can't go an hour without being exposed to some technological screens, the internet may have become an addition for you. Even the ease that technology offers to us allows us to do many of our activities and obligations with a few clicks, without leaving home, which has contributed to digital dependency.
To reduce the effects caused by such dependency, the International Day of Digital Abstinence is celebrated every March 5. There is life beyond the internet!
In a study carried out by Javier Serano-Puche, doctor and professor at the Center for Internet Studies and Digital Life of the University of Navarra, the hyperconnectivity that people currently experience is exposed and offers some recommendations to change the habits of Internet consumption.
Six benefits of digital disconnection
The study entitled "A proposal for a digital diet: rethinking media consumption in the era of hyperconnectivity" cites at least six benefits of digital disconnection. Get to know them and put yourself to the test!
- Be able to recover the capacity for attention. According to Professor Serrano-Puche, going on the internet requires a particularly intensive form of mental multitasking. Therefore, moving away from the online presence for a day would help to be more attentive to other activities in the non-digital world.
- Have more enriching moments of connection online. Moving away from social networks and browsing the internet allows people to be more selective to digital consumption, and it will have a more profitable experience.
- Feel more peace and freedom. Although Serrano-Puche clarifies that few studies measure the benefits of digital abstinence, he indicates that those that exist concluded that all those that have a digital diet have experienced a feeling of liberation and peace. Would you like to check it out?
- Improve your relationships with others. Studies claim that by having periods without contact with the internet, people will be able to improve their communication with their family and close friends, by being more attentive to what they say than to their mobile phone or computer.
- Try to have more time. Although people do not notice it, the presence on the internet takes up a lot of hours a day. Perhaps it has happened to you that two hours have passed, and all you have done is watch videos on TikTok or many photos on Instagram. With digital abstinence, people will have the possibility to do other things that they had previously neglected.
- More humanity! This is perhaps one of the best benefits offered by digital disconnection, which has sometimes made you have colder relationships without human contact. Getting away from the internet for a day will bring you closer to the people around you that you hadn't even noticed before. Cheer up and communicate with those you have by your side!
What to do on a day of digital abstinence?
Try to do all those activities neglected due to lack of time. Read a physical book, take a walk in the neighborhood, get to know the people around you, and have a conversation, without mobile phones nearby, with your parents, siblings, relatives, or friends.
Another option that can bring you a lot of peace is to have contact with nature, in a place with no internet connection. Give it a try, and tell us what sensations you experienced!
