Today is my third day
of a weeklong digital detox, and I'm feeling happier. A lot happier.
I haven't completely removed myself from the digital world. I'm still letting myself talk on the phone, write on my iPad, and do certain essential things on the Internet such as banking, map searches, and answering ads for my rental. I have however avoided the bulk of my recreational net surfing. This usually starts in the morning when I go to check the weather on the computer. It turns into a couple hours of reading articles, checking Facebook, and other activities that are mildly entertaining but not very useful. I had a renter coming to look at the spare room, so the first thing I did was clean up my house. The place looks so much bigger now!
I've definitely been happier. Could this mean that the Internet, and Facebook in particular, tend to make people less happy? I had read some studies that suggested that, in order to get them I would need to go onto the Internet, so finding that link will have to wait until the week is over, which is also when I will post this article. I would have to get more data points in order to properly test the hypothesis, trying out alternating weeks on and off the Internet and seeing if I'm consistently happier in the weeks off, or convincing my friends to try going on digital detox, and see if they become happier. There are other possible explanations. It could be that I started getting happier, and this is what gave me the mental flexibility to go on digital detox. It could be the quickening of the year, the return of the light, as my moods always tend to follow the seasons it could be that I've been living in my new home for a year, which has allowed me time to develop some real-life friendships. .
I haven't completely removed myself from the digital world. I'm still letting myself talk on the phone, write on my iPad, and do certain essential things on the Internet such as banking, map searches, and answering ads for my rental. I have however avoided the bulk of my recreational net surfing. This usually starts in the morning when I go to check the weather on the computer. It turns into a couple hours of reading articles, checking Facebook, and other activities that are mildly entertaining but not very useful. I had a renter coming to look at the spare room, so the first thing I did was clean up my house. The place looks so much bigger now!
I've definitely been happier. Could this mean that the Internet, and Facebook in particular, tend to make people less happy? I had read some studies that suggested that, in order to get them I would need to go onto the Internet, so finding that link will have to wait until the week is over, which is also when I will post this article. I would have to get more data points in order to properly test the hypothesis, trying out alternating weeks on and off the Internet and seeing if I'm consistently happier in the weeks off, or convincing my friends to try going on digital detox, and see if they become happier. There are other possible explanations. It could be that I started getting happier, and this is what gave me the mental flexibility to go on digital detox. It could be the quickening of the year, the return of the light, as my moods always tend to follow the seasons it could be that I've been living in my new home for a year, which has allowed me time to develop some real-life friendships. .
It's possible that I
was using the Internet to the point of addiction, and what might have been a mildly
pleasurable activity had become a ball and chain. I became happier because I
was able to go cold turkey, when attempting to cut back simply wasn't working
it could also be my new meditation practice is what's been making me happier. .
But I want to go back to the first hypothesis: that Internet use in general,
and social media in particular, makes most people less happy.
Let's call this the junk food theory of social media. Friendship gives us a number of different benefits, and social media leaves some of those out. You can't share a glass of wine with your friend on Facebook, or see their facial expressions, or get them a hug. It's like junk food that has calories but no vitamins. But junk food fills up the belly, and keeps one away from the healthier stuff. I see a few people having really interesting and deep discussions on social media, but they seem to be the exception. It's easier to keep things light, to post jokes or platitudes.
Still, social media must have some benefits, or people wouldn't use it at all. It certainly helps me stay in touch with people when might otherwise have lost track of. It's great for sharing family photos, and keeping a sense of continuity when people are far away. But it seems like I'm spending quite a bit of time digging and scratching in the mines for these little bits of gold. And doesn't help that the social network is owned by a for-profit corporation that is using Pavlovian conditioning to train me to spend more time on its own network .
Let's call this the junk food theory of social media. Friendship gives us a number of different benefits, and social media leaves some of those out. You can't share a glass of wine with your friend on Facebook, or see their facial expressions, or get them a hug. It's like junk food that has calories but no vitamins. But junk food fills up the belly, and keeps one away from the healthier stuff. I see a few people having really interesting and deep discussions on social media, but they seem to be the exception. It's easier to keep things light, to post jokes or platitudes.
Still, social media must have some benefits, or people wouldn't use it at all. It certainly helps me stay in touch with people when might otherwise have lost track of. It's great for sharing family photos, and keeping a sense of continuity when people are far away. But it seems like I'm spending quite a bit of time digging and scratching in the mines for these little bits of gold. And doesn't help that the social network is owned by a for-profit corporation that is using Pavlovian conditioning to train me to spend more time on its own network .
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That keyboard and
screen, that phone in your pocket, is the gateway to both heaven and hell.
Technologies offer us access to vast amounts of knowledge, and connection to
everyone will ever met. They're also altering the very structure of our brains
we can create anxiety, addiction, and even mental illness. Happiness, or the
lack of it, is the result of our choices. The Internet gives us many, many
choices.
There has been a new movement in psychology, the exploration not only of what goes wrong, but what goes right. The field of happiness research has turned up some very interesting findings. And one of these findings is that an increased amount of choice, surprisingly, can make us less happy rather than more happy. We are always left questioning if we have made the best choices, if some other possibility would've made us happier. And wondering, that anxiety actually decreases our happiness. The Quakers, the plain folk, discovered this a long time ago in pursuit of simplicity for the sake of happiness.
And that could explain why a digital detox makes me happier. On the Internet, with a near infinity of possibilities, there's always something better to be looking at. There is always something more productive to do. There are endless distractions, and endless opportunities for procrastination. Restricting my choices makes my life simpler, and that's happier.
Taking a digital detox also leaves me in the real world, which is still much more detailed and complex than what we see on the computer screen. The real world is full of plants and trees and the beautiful sky, it's full of real live people that I can look in the eye and hug it has delicious food, which tastes so much better if I'm not distracted by looking at the screen while eating. It also helps that I'm living in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I like the real world. I think I just might stay here in real life a while.
There has been a new movement in psychology, the exploration not only of what goes wrong, but what goes right. The field of happiness research has turned up some very interesting findings. And one of these findings is that an increased amount of choice, surprisingly, can make us less happy rather than more happy. We are always left questioning if we have made the best choices, if some other possibility would've made us happier. And wondering, that anxiety actually decreases our happiness. The Quakers, the plain folk, discovered this a long time ago in pursuit of simplicity for the sake of happiness.
And that could explain why a digital detox makes me happier. On the Internet, with a near infinity of possibilities, there's always something better to be looking at. There is always something more productive to do. There are endless distractions, and endless opportunities for procrastination. Restricting my choices makes my life simpler, and that's happier.
Taking a digital detox also leaves me in the real world, which is still much more detailed and complex than what we see on the computer screen. The real world is full of plants and trees and the beautiful sky, it's full of real live people that I can look in the eye and hug it has delicious food, which tastes so much better if I'm not distracted by looking at the screen while eating. It also helps that I'm living in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I like the real world. I think I just might stay here in real life a while.
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