Are screens really the problem?
I’m only 34, but I still remember a time when it was possible to go without screens for extended periods. As a kid, we would go camping and experience a whole week disconnected from TV and video games and, well, those were the only screens we had back then.
Nowadays, this is near impossible. Camping involves a phone. Putting on music involves looking at a screen. I even read novels on a screen. I have no idea when I last went a full day without screens. You probably don’t know when it was for you, either.
Unless you specifically design time away, it just isn’t going to happen naturally, as it would have fifteen years ago. My challenge was simple: go 48 hours without looking at a single screen to see if there were noticeable benefits.
There are many common “full dopamine detoxes” out there, and I chose not to do one on purpose. These often involve fasting not to get dopamine responses from sugar and also giving up coffee. Sorry, I’m not giving up coffee and going without screens. My results would be obvious: 48 hours of caffeine withdrawal headaches. I’d learn nothing.
Many “digital minimalists” have touted the supposed benefits of going without screens: increased sleep, mental clarity, creativity, energy, weight loss, etc.
I didn’t expect to see these effects after such a short time, but I kept an open mind.
Day 1
I woke up at 5:20 am and had no idea.
A few months ago, the battery on my watch died, and I never replaced it because I had my phone on me. There is a clock in my bedroom, but usually, by the time I put my glasses on and shift around to see it, I’m wide awake.
To be fair, the sun made the room feel like it was late morning, and I slept well even though the experiment had barely started. I can even pinpoint why.
I usually spend a lot of time thinking about things while I try to fall asleep: I should reply to that comment; look up that fact; remember to read that article. Knowing that I couldn’t use a computer or phone removed all of that chatter. I had nothing to think about, and so I slept soundly.
First thing in the morning, I went for a morning walk with the dog. Getting natural light outside and some easy exercise woke me up quite a bit more. When I got back, I wrote some notes for this article about my sleep and the walk.
There isn’t much to say about what I did for the rest of the day. I did some reading, more vigorous exercises, cleaning and cooking, organizing long-overdue parts of the house, writing ideas I had longhand, and so on.
Web searches
I didn’t find it all that hard to fill the time, surprisingly, but I did start to notice my Google addiction. I had no idea how much I did random searches to find bits of information.
I knew I did this to an extent, but not having access to a computer made me realize that I complete around 30–50 web searches a day. There’s no way this is normal. It’s like I play an endless trivia game with myself all day long.
- What does hemlock look like?
- Has Disney child star actor Ryan Merriman been in anything recently?
- Did Third-Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life” come out in 1997 or 1998?
- Does the pectoralis major connect under the deltoid or higher up?
- How hot do saunas get on average?
These seem fake, but they were real thoughts I had (I jotted them down!) and would have looked up if I was allowed to. This obsessive web searching is even worse when I’m in the middle of writing a novel, and I look up things about cities and parking garages and professions I don’t have.
When I read about other people going without screens before starting the experiment, they all talked about always having an urge to check social media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Others wanted to check the news.
Their addictions had to do with experiencing the unknown. They go to a site with unknown content on it and then get a spike of excitement at seeing the latest thing.
It’s like a slot machine. Look at the phone, nothing. Look at the phone, nothing. Look at the phone, bing, jackpot — you’ve been retweeted.
I had none of this, and it was wonderful. I check Instagram and the New York Times front page a lot but knowing I couldn’t made that urge go away instantly.
The Googling thing, on the other hand, was surprising to me, but ultimately, it wasn’t that bad to ignore. I filled the day pretty easily and never had too much boredom.
Day 2
I fell asleep easily again. I couldn’t tell if this was the lack of artificial blue light from screens all day and night (as some claim) or something else.
My best guess is that I just exercised more. And I’m not talking about going to the gym, which I didn’t do (social distancing and Planet Fitness has TV screens all over).
I just burned a ton more energy moving around by not being in front of a computer all day. I was exhausted when I went to bed and slept well. Or, it could have been the light thing. I guess I’ll never know.
Day 2 was a bit harder. I filled Day 1 with the stuff I had planned to do. On Day 2, I hit a serious wall at 3 pm. I had already made kimchi (though it pained me not to be able to look up how much Gochugaru or fish sauce to put in it).
I also read 100 pages of a book and journaled and taken two walks. I wanted to start turning my notes on this article into actual prose, but it felt wasteful to write it longhand when I’d just have to type it later.
Despite really wanting to quit, I made it to the end successfully.
There’s no doubt that on Day 2, I started to notice the “presence” aspect some people talk about. Things felt more real. I was living in the moment and noticed a lot of details I never saw before.
When I walked the dog, I enjoyed nature because I didn’t have a podcast going to fill the silence.
Overall, I ended up being a lot less productive the second day, but I still felt exhausted when I went to bed. There seems to be something to the claim that minimizing screen time leads to better sleep.
Ideas for going forward
Was it cleansing?
I didn’t notice much after 48 hours. I slept better, but I still believe that it was partly due to increased activity. I should probably be getting up and moving more than I do in general, so I’m incorporating it into my daily life now.
The main benefit was being completely unaware of all the silly things that don’t matter.
I didn’t see if people commented on my articles or left a review of my books. I didn’t check sales statistics or article reads, which are meaningless day-to-day (trends over a month are worthwhile).
I didn’t see things on Twitter that upset me. I know some stranger’s opinion is meaningless, but let’s face it, we often react emotionally like it’s going to change history.
I’ve come up with three less extreme ways to start implementing less screen time.
1. Site blockers
Making a firm decision not to check anything is all it took for that anxiety to die down.
It wasn’t necessarily the “screen” that had an effect. This can be done with a site blocker. I’m going to start scheduling a time where I’m allowed to check the things I usually check, and this will be enforced with a site blocker.
I’m cutting out social media and statistic checking first thing in the morning and for most of the night. I might even limit this to be as small as a 20-minute window twice a day.
2. Turning off the phone
I will also completely turn off my phone instead of just silencing it during anything important and after 8 pm.
This removes all temptation. I know that seems crazy. What if I need to receive some super important phone call emergency?
Well, I wouldn’t recommend this for everyone, but I know that family members have other ways to get in touch with me. If you don’t have that, then silencing and blocking the sites you know you compulsively check will probably get you most of the benefit.
3. Scheduled detoxes
I also want to implement a 24-hour detox at least once a month. Two days felt a bit intrusive for the types of benefits I saw. Planning it is important so that I can schedule work around it like I did this time.
I’m not convinced about the concept of “detoxing” from screens. But I do hope these days of going without will remind me that it’s still possible — that I’m relying on screen time to fill too much of my day unnecessarily.
If you plan to do 24 hours or more, I highly recommend figuring out how you’ll fill the time before you start. Make a list. Be productive if you want. Try out a new hobby. Travel somewhere. It doesn’t matter how you fill the time, but having a plan to not sit around bored will make you more likely to succeed.
Other things I’ve learned
The first morning back to normal, I felt drained, and my husband joked that it was because I looked at a screen first thing in the morning.
Then he astutely pointed out that I hadn’t taken my morning walk. I grabbed the dog and set out. When I got back, I had that freshness I’d had the previous two mornings, and my tiredness was gone.
This is something that will continue. I love my coffee, but even that doesn’t wake me up like natural sunlight and exercise and fresh air in the morning.
I’m also going back to wearing a watch. If I want to know the time, I don’t want to look at my phone and see that I have a message waiting for me. I’d rather not know the time than to rely on my phone for it.
Was it as cleansing as people say? I don’t think so. I believe we are villainizing the wrong thing. It’s not so much the screen time (at least in moderation) that is the problem, it’s letting the stuff behind the screen infiltrate our thoughts that cause problems.
We also should have hobbies that don’t involve a screen. I certainly have several, but I still find myself defaulting to watching TV or playing computer games or scrolling social media when given the option.
Schedule these hobbies to force yourself away. That way, you don’t have a choice. You can’t just default to doing nothing.
It turns out there’s way more time in a day than I thought when I’m not doing these silly, mindless things (I count Googling trivia among these). This was an eye-opening lesson. I often think I don’t have time for things, but if I got off of the screens, I’d find that there’s more than enough time.
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"Hour" - Google News
July 02, 2020 at 04:00PM
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What I Learned From a 48 Hour Digital Detox - Medium
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