My 7-Day Digital Detox: What I Learned After Unplugging from Screens

Source photo Space gray iPhone 6 with Facebook log-in display near Social Media scrabble tiles photo — Free Blue Image on Unsplash

Whether we like to admit it or not, we have become dependent on the online environment, and I can tell you that I have friends who spend over 3–4 hours in front of their phones just watching different videos or spending time on social media.
Even though I personally don’t spend that much time on my phone, I felt that I needed a digital detox in my life and tried it for a week.

To do this, I set myself a few simple rules, namely not to have my phone with me when I’m in the kitchen. Usually, when I was preparing food after a day’s work, I preferred to sit on my phone and watch various videos. I replaced this with relaxing music or an educational podcast playing in the background without staring at my phone.

The second rule was no phone after 8 p.m. I usually spent most of my time in the evening when I considered it my time to relax. This week, when 8 p.m. came around, I put my phone on silent mode and tried to do activities that I enjoy. So I ended up having two hours to read a book, meditate, or go for a simple walk with my girlfriend in the park.

The third and perhaps most important rule was no social media on the weekend. We don’t realize that we spend a large part of our weekend scrolling through TikTok or Instagram. So instead of spending this time…