Digital Detox

There is a small movement happening among people of the digital age these days known as the "Digital Detox". Losely this is when someone who is an avid user of technologies such as cell phones, the internet, and especially social networking decide to take a break from such things.

This can be as light as no texting for a week or no FaceBook for a few days all the way to people who try to completely remove themselves from the grid. Most of the information I have seen includes people who live professional lives that are cluttered with Blackberries, excel files, and power point presentations that feel overwhelmed by going home from work only to be attacked by social networking and text messages.

Upon reading the accounts of people who have attempted this "detox" the results and reports tend to be fairly interesting. One account came from a woman who decided to delete her FaceBook account for a month (though, if you try this, you'll come to find that you can't actually delete it and all of your information is saved for eternity is their servers... I have a feeling one day this is going to cause some issues). As she reported daily you got the feeling that she almost seemed a fair bit lost in her day to day activities. FaceBook is useful... it's a way to stay updated with friends, to invite/get invited to parties and social events, and share your good times with others. But this writer came to find that she felt once it was gone that she realized she was really not involved at all and eventually realized she needed to spend more time actually interacting (though she did reinstate her account after 26 days or so).

Another account was from a young business man who decided to rid his life of email, his Blackberry, and all forms of technology. He wrote letters to his co-workers, used land-line phones at all times, and he reported actually being "anxious" at first. He eventually found a sort of "peace" in the detox but he also noted that his work performance sort of when up and down. His personal productivity skyrocketed as he was able to spend all of his time focused on work without distractions yet his team productivity plummeted as no one knew how to get a hold of him or would take the effort to dial a phone or walk to his office.

I personally believe we will eventually hit a plateau of self disclosure. Even this day I find that things such as FaceBook can have a negative effect on friendships and relationships as things get revealed and misunderstood on them. With texting I can think of many arguments that came from a text sent to the wrong person or one that was read in the wrong context. I think one day we will actually start to value our privacy and personal interaction over these electronic billboards we participate in.