If it had not been for the digital support, sailing through the pandemic would not have been easy. Digital devices became not just a mode of passing time but to coordinate across our social circuit to find help for friends and relatives needing support like covid-19 plasma or oxygen cylinders. However, when the unnecessary time-pass in the digital world takes over our necessities is something which is hard to identify and we start losing touch with the beautiful real world that is around us. Probably this is why digital detoxification is highly important. Moreover, it has been found by studies that excessive digital consumption hampers our physical and mental well-being. 

The more we use social media, the more dissatisfied we are with our lives 

There have been many research studies over the years that indicate that we are less satisfied with life if we consume too much social media. As individuals we have the habit of feeling that the grass is greener on the other side. Someone who is good at projecting even the slightest life-happiness with accelerated pomp and glory can easily fill us up with inferiority complex. In comparison we find our own happiness much smaller, when there is no need to feel that way as everyone’s journey is different

Games should be physical but sadly everyone was hooked to online games even before the pandemic

A disorder called gaming disorder has been identified by the World Health Organization. It finds a mention in the 11th edition of International Classification of Disease Manual released by WHO. This new disorder is being compared to be as harmful for mental health as substance abuse or drug addiction. American Psychiatric Association has pointed out that the brain in gaming disorder reacts and gets obsessive in a similar manner as that of a person who suffers from addictions to substances like drugs. 

Why digital detoxification is necessary

We just have 24 hours in a day. If we are giving more time to something digitally then naturally, we would have to undermine time that we could spend in rest of the things. The things that get undermined due to time crunch is of course lesser exercise, lesser communication with family members even when they are staying under the same roof. There is not just less of physical exercising but less exercising of creativity due to senile life on excessive screen time. 

How to achieve digital detox 

Training the mind to limit screen time is very important. One will have to set clear boundaries for oneself. One should find out techniques to motivate oneself to indulge in activities which are outside the digital realm. There should be clear timings for unplugging oneself every day. One can take help of friends and family by telling them to purposely distract their mind from time to time by talking to digitally obsessive individuals instead of allowing him or her to be lost in the digital world. 

Immediately coming back to the digital detoxification mode would not be easy. Taking baby steps and leaping into the bigger goal would be a more effective strategy. Work on the improvements week by week - from small steps to large steps. The to-do-list of digital detoxifications should include totally unplugging half an hour before bed time, the living room or any other area of the house should be a no-screen zone rather than a family time zone, there should be digital device free family activity like cooking or reading together.

We follow a certain culture right from the time we land into a family immediately after our birth. The culture of less screen time, more family time, areas where screen is not allowed and totally unplugging during meals and before sleep time are good family cultures that should be inculcated in individuals right from childhood.