A digital diet

An opportunity to re-connect with your world?

Enforced digital isolation

Last minute check of emails and a final tweet before my smartphone goes into flight mode. No emails, no calls and no social media for a two and a half hour flight – bliss?

The ‘digital diet’ is the latest smartphone fad

I am sure I’m not alone in finding such periods are a welcome break. No doubt, you are probably reading this on your phone. Preferably after reading and viewing more on this site you may consider joining the latest smartphone fad – a ‘digital diet’.

How to break up with your phone

Catherine Price has written a book titled ‘How to break up with your phone’ in which she prescribes a four-week regime to change your dependency. The book adds to a rapidly expanding movement in which users are encouraged to disconnect using strategies previously deployed in the diet and health industries. The ‘5:2 detox‘ is a popular reiteration for a screen free weekend which it’s hoped improves sleep, focus and the feeling of a weekend break.

There are apps for ‘digital diets’

BreakFree, Flipd or AppDetox are a selection of popular apps which allow the user to take a digital break and find your healthy ‘phone-life equillibrium’.

Social-validation tool

The equilibrium between social and work-orientated apps is become increasingly blurred. WhatsApp groups are a staple of communication amongst my medical colleagues but so to are the countless other social ‘chat’ groups within the same app. So throughout the day I receive both work and outside messages and have little option to compartmentalise the two streams. Avoiding the ‘social-validation feedback loop‘ is becoming increasingly more tricky.

Flight safe mode – off!

The wheels have touched down and I can see many of my fellow passengers reach for their phones. Reconnecting to the world?