Buried by an avalanche of whatsapps and dozens of telegrams, more and more people claim the need for digital disconnection, they decide to put down their phones and declare themselves “dead or out of reach”

HThere are people who have reached a point of no return and are on the verge of collapse as anxiety calls them to the phone. He was in the bathroom responding to WhatsApp messages and crossing a pedestrian crossing answering a telegram. just waiting from like you retweet or be perfect for the best selfielive immersed in the digital world and not in the real world.

This anxiety and fear of something missing has many names but they also call it in English fomo (“afraid to miss“).

Today it is known that technology saturates people and makes them less productive because they are stuck in it. According to a study from the University of California, Irvine, “working while being constantly distracted increases stress levels.” That in turn causes us to have to work faster to make up for lost time in crazy loops.

The dependency is complete. 25% of people check their smartphone every 30 minutes and 25% of millennials check it more than a hundred times a day.

For Mar Cabra, pioneer of data journalism and expert in digital well-being, “it’s very important to set digital boundaries, as we do in the physical world. You can try removing notifications from social networks. And if, for example, you have to review emails all the time, You can do this in blocks and close them to keep your focus on something else.

Because in a society where smartphones are the hub of entertainment, news generators, and even payment systems, it has become a very important element.

technology isolation

disconnection

“Help get better”

With the aggravation that smartphones are always seeking attention with constantly annoying notifications, updates and latest news. “And this can be quite overwhelming,” says Joaquín Mateu-Mollá, doctor in Clinical Psychology and professor at Valencia International University. According to him, digital disconnection is fundamental because it helps “feel better about ourselves and with those around us”. Therefore, it is advisable to control the use of social networks. “Anything more than 100 or 120 minutes a day puts our mental health at risk.”

A revealing example. The University of Bath, in the UK, proposed to a group of 172 people, aged between 18 and 72 who use social networks an average of 8 hours a day, to cut back. They are only allowed to browse Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram for a total of 20 minutes in 7 days.

Experts measure stress and anxiety levels before starting the test, and reassess them a week later. The results are enlightening. Those who rest had better levels of mental well-being, depression, and anxiety than the group that continued the same habit.

This is what many people call technostress. In a study conducted at the European University of Rome, this concept was analyzed, which was defined as “the stress experienced by end users in the organization as a result of the use of ICT”.

increase sales

retro explosion

vintage cell phone

Against this backdrop, many have decided to get a mobile device without TikTok or YouTube. Who wants something like that? Well, contrary to what we can assume, more and more users are opting for standard phones. One of the main reasons is the desire to be less dependent on technology, a phenomenon associated with digital well-being is well known.

For this reason, economist Juan Carlos Portela emphasizes the need not to forget the importance of digital disconnection despite all the advantages and benefits that technology and digitalization bring us. “We need to do detachment to avoid the mental exhaustion we’re seeing.” In addition, dependence on technology makes us, in many cases, “more stupid and lonely”, say experts.

In this context, it is explained that sales of retro phones are rising like foam, pre-diluvian Nokias that only serve to make calls and answer and, in the best case, take photos.

Iñaki García decided to replace his Samsung Galaxy with the Nokia 3310 and his life changed drastically. “Before I was always glued to the phone, checking any messages, browsing Facebook or anything I didn’t need to know,” he said. So instead of scrolling through apps like TikTok or Instagram and constantly giving I love itone of to share“Now I have more time to myself and I have more privacy,” he emphasizes.

Apple launched the first iPhone in 2007 and ushered in the smartphone era, rendering basic phones outdated and virtually useless. However, cell phone antique, which people bought in the late 90s, rose from the ashes. Google searches for these devices increased by 89% between 2018 and 2021, and global purchases for stupid phone reach 1 billion units in 2021, up from 500 million in 2020. he