Tech overuse: Is it time to unplug?
To hear Tiffany Shlain talk about her 鈥渢ech shabbat,鈥� it sounds less like a fast and more like a banquet.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so much more about what I get back,鈥� says the filmmaker about her sunset-to-sunset breaks from screens on Fridays and Saturdays. 鈥淚 feel like my whole day is extra long and wonderful.鈥�
Prodding people to unplug for 24-hours each week may look like an odd stance for Ms. Shlain, who founded the Webbys, one of the most prestigious awards for internet content.聽
Why We Wrote This
Technology is often painted as the key to the future. But some people are taking a step back and unplugging to preserve tech-free aspects of society.
But she鈥檚 not alone. Tech-free have become common among Silicon Valley鈥檚 elite. Even the famously tech-savvy Pope Francis聽 on Ash Wednesday that 鈥淟ent is a time to disconnect from cellphones and connect to the Gospel.鈥�
Sunset on March 6 marks the start of the聽, a 24-hour break from screens started in 2009 by the Jewish nonprofit Reboot.聽Past years have seen over 60,000 people participating.聽Ms. Shlain,聽whose book, 鈥�24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week,鈥� was published last September, embraces this effort. Like many critics of tech overuse, she argues that always-available information feeds interfere with our fundamental need for mental downtime. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 think we were designed to be on 24/7,鈥� she says.
As technology becomes ever more entrenched in our lives, even some of its most ardent proponents are suggesting we step away from time to time. If we don鈥檛, they caution, we may be unwittingly making a huge sacrifice.
鈥淭his really does touch everyone鈥檚 lives,鈥� says Kim Cavallo, an ambassador for the National Day of Unplugging and the founder of lilspace, whose smartphone app rewards users for taking breaks from their phones with local perks and charitable donations. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not any one particular religious group. We all feel the sense of disruption of human connection.鈥�
A 鈥渄etox鈥� or a transformation?
Many critics agree that unplugging for just one day will not, by itself, change your relationship with technology.
鈥淚鈥檓 not a big advocate of extremes,鈥� says Anastasia Dedyukhina, founder of the digital well-being training consultancy Consciously Digital. 鈥淚t鈥檚 much more interesting to find a balanced way.鈥�
Dr. Dedyukhina sees digital fasting as a first step in reclaiming our lives from tech overuse, but warns that, like many simple fixes, it can miss the bigger picture.
鈥淚t鈥檚 actually very dangerous to see this as a solution,鈥� she says, 鈥渂ecause the problem is not that we are spending too much time on the screens. It鈥檚 that so many of our functions are now outsourced to technology, and there鈥檚 no culture around this 鈥� what鈥檚 appropriate, what鈥檚 not appropriate.鈥�
Computer scientist and self-help author Cal Newport agrees that unplugging can be a good first step, but warns that doing so needs to be seen not as a break 鈥� or worse, a 鈥渄etox鈥� 鈥� but as the first step in a transformation.
鈥淭he reason to step away is not just to lose the habit of technology, but to give yourself back the space,鈥� he says.聽
Another option: a 30-day tech fast, followed by a mindful reintroduction of only certain devices and apps, suggests Dr. Newport, an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of the 2019 bestseller 鈥淒igital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World.鈥澛�
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 go back to what you did before. You rebuild it from scratch, but this time with intention,鈥� he says. The key is to ensure that 鈥渁ll the tech you have is amplifying something that you really care about.鈥�
Dr. Dedyukhina, who used to be hooked on her phone until about five years ago, says changing her technology use has helped her recover some of her humanity.
鈥淚n an age when computers are becoming more powerful,鈥� she says, 鈥渨e end up behaving more like computers.鈥澛�
Today, Dr. Dedyukhina mostly uses an old-school cellphone only for calling and keeps her smartphone turned off and in a drawer. 鈥淚 suddenly became much more creative, with more space in my head,鈥� she says.
Space for contemplation
Our phones stop our minds from wandering, says Dr. Newport, which might explain why many religious groups have encouraged their followers to limit their technology use.聽
鈥淲hat you see in the world鈥檚 wisdom traditions is contemplation. Inward focus is in many ways a key step toward gaining intimations, if not outright revelations, of the divine,鈥� he says. 鈥淎s soon as you remove comfort with the interior, you lose the basis on which all theological wisdom is based.鈥�
But to Heidi Campbell, tech can be a positive force for religious understanding.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to say technology is good or technology is bad,鈥� says Dr. Campbell, a professor of communications at Texas A&M University who studies religion and digital technology. 鈥淚t鈥檚 another thing to do the hard work of figuring out which is which.鈥�
She argues that such absolutist approaches can unwittingly promote 鈥渢echnological determinism.鈥澛�
鈥淚t assumes that people are robots and that they don鈥檛 have any ability to make decisions,鈥� she says.
For Lent, Dr. Campbell created a (and ) to promote 40 Days of Kindness.聽鈥淚nstead of taking a technological sabbath this Lent,鈥� the site reads, 鈥減rayerfully and strategically embrace technology in ways that spread kindness!鈥�
Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a tech-policy think tank in Washington, D.C., does not oppose taking extended breaks from screens, but reminds us that alarm over tech overuse is primarily a problem of the affluent.
鈥淓ven for someone in the gig economy,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not going to give up their means of income. ... It would be like not paying your bills each month.鈥�
Mr. Castro suggests that those giving up technology don鈥檛 frame it as relinquishing a vice. 鈥淭hink of it as sacrificing something you genuinely enjoy, so that you can appreciate it when you resume using it,鈥� he says.
He also offers an alternative to tech abstinence: 鈥淚nstead of saying 鈥榣et鈥檚 unplug,鈥� can we ask, 鈥楥an I be nicer on social media?鈥欌��
