By: Quinn Niblock

For my digital detox, I intend to limit myself to the medium option given by the presenters, although I would like to modify it slightly. I will give myself 5 hours of total screen time, however, only an hour of it can be on my phone, and no digital media can be consumed on my phone. I intend to do this by leaving my phone off my person as much as possible and spending my weekend primarily working on homework and spending time outside or in the gym.,

Reflection:
I did meet my goals for the detox, primarily due to a football tournament that consumed much of my day on Sunday and left me so exhausted I did not even have the energy to scroll TikTok. I spent my reclaimed time primarily working on homework and sleeping. I did struggle on Saturday, especially during the morning. One thing the detox has helped me notice is my tendency to use my phone in tandem with oversleeping. Effectively wasting time in the morning due to a lack of obligations. However, other than this specific instance, I found it relatively easy to stay off of digital media by leaving my phone in my dorm room and spending time outside playing sports, at the gym, and meeting up with friends. I had one instance with a group of friends in which none of us used our phones, except to change music on a speaker for around 2-3 hours. This was an exceptionally good experience and I had a noticeable boost in my mood after this.

I plan to try the medium difficulty option for our Digital Detox.
My main goal, really, is to test my patience and restraint with two social media platforms that I am constantly on (TikTok and Instagram, a.k.a “scrolling apps”). I feel like I’m always using them as a distraction from campus life and how fast-paced it can become; I’m hoping to gain some form of clarity. I just also want to be more present with whatever activities I’ll end up pursuing this weekend.

Update:

I met my ultimate goals for the detox which was to refrain from my two most-used apps, Instagram and TikTok. I did also have a significantly less amount of screen time, as shown to me by my phone’s stats; but it was particularly harder to do so since my friends and I enjoy watching movies or a series together over the weekend.

But I would say that at the times I wasn’t on my phone and I was actively trying to be present in the conversation or the ambience of the situation, I felt like I could think more clearly. It was just a little easier to evaluate my place in the conversation and to effortlessly contribute to it. It already made me feel just a little bit more connected to those around me; and it also, in a way, felt liberating — it felt like an accomplishment to not need my device with me at all times.

I have decided to test myself for the Digital Detox project and try to complete the easy level. I spend a lot of time on my phone and do many things with technology. I have a project coming up where I need my phone therefore I won’t be able to complete the medium level this weekend. I am going to limit myself on my phone and other electronic devices this weekend. I believe this will do good for me and will teach me I can do other things than use technology.

II’ve decided to choose the easy plan. I’m planning to go out with my friends without my phone. We will probably walk around downtown and chat.

Reflections on digital detox

The experience was really unforgettable for me. I got time to communicate with my friends instead of staying inside my room. It awares me that it’s necessary for me to social and communicate with each other.

Even though the very nature of my work is looking at screens and writing codes 24/7, I do feel the need to distance myself from the digitally saturated world and spend some time in the real world. In my opinion, I feel like we’re slowly moving towards a lifestyle where everyone’s digital lives are more important than the real one, just like ready player one. I will be choosing the easy option because I still need some time to do my work.

I was leaning towards the easier detoxing. Even though my screen time for social media reduced, my overall screen time was still the same due to upcoming IS deadlines. In the future, I think I’ll try to detox as much as possible when i have the time.

For this weekend, I am going to choose the easy digital detox path. The dance concert is next week, and I will have to stay pretty online this weekend regarding tech and other concerns. Otherwise, one platform I will try and limit my use of is Instagram, since I feel that I do not get much out of the app every time I log on. What takes up most of my screen time normally is TikTok, Spotify, and Messages- this weekend I will try and limit my TikTok usage as well.

I feel like I did meet my digital detox goal by simply getting more sleep. I think that normally, I view going on social media as a “break”, when in reality it is not making me more relaxed. Again, this made me realize that what I am considering breaks are not really so, and going forward will prioritize things such as sleep, not going on my phone. For Thanksgiving break, I will try my best to spend my time truly relaxing and spending time with my family, not doing things like watching television. Overall (even though I felt like I didn’t do a true detox since I had so much homework) I think this experience taught me a lot of valuable lessons.