We may well be surprised to find ourselves feeling more, rather than less, connected when we disconnect from media. Whether we are catching the eye of a fellow student on the way to class, fully acknowledging the cashier at the store, or engaging in an uninterrupted heart-to-heart conversation with a loved one, a break from media allows us to nourish our relationships. As a result, she said, “We ended up sharing things about each others’ past that we hadn’t talked about before, so it felt good to get to know him a little deeper.” One student invited her boyfriend to participate in the fast with her. “Breaking away from media allowed me to be more empathetic to not only my own struggles but to others’ as well,” wrote another. “Not using my phone while with my friends was a way of working on my relationships, and I noticed a difference between the conversations that night compared to other times,” wrote one young woman. In many of their papers, my students report improved connections with family, friends, and classmates as a benefit of the fast. In particular, the phones’ presence inhibited deeper, more meaningful conversations, which require trust, vulnerability, and undivided attention. This was even the case when the phone belonged to the experimenter, and was outside the direct view of the participant. In both laboratory and naturalistic studies, people felt less connected to conversation partners, and found their partners less empathically attuned, when a cell phone was present during the conversation. Preteens, after five days at a camp without media use, outperformed their peers in recognizing nonverbal cues of emotion, an important foundation for empathy. Social media promises social connection, but the full richness of human relationships is best found face-to-face. The impact on sleep alone would be more than enough reason to undertake a media fast. Sleep is one of the single most important foundations of physical and mental health. “Breaking away from media allowed me to be more empathetic to not only my own struggles but to others’ as well” ―A student on a media detoxįor all these reasons, many experts are suggesting that we avoid screens in the hours leading up to bedtime as a matter of basic self-care. Add to all this the likelihood that the emotional tone of media engagement will be stimulating or stressful (work emails, news reports, social comparison on Facebook…), and you have a perfect recipe for sleep disruption. It’s also increasingly common for people to sleep with their phones nearby, which means that calls and texts can awaken them. When this happens at night, we lose sleep. In addition, we have probably all experienced the “quick check” of our phones or computers that inadvertently leads to many unplanned minutes (or hours) of use. In one study, for example, people reading on an e-reader at night, compared to those reading a print book, experienced delayed melatonin release, took longer to fall asleep, and felt less rested the next day. This is partly due to the physiological effects of the “blue light” of the screen, which impacts the brain’s production of melatonin, delaying the onset of sleep. Improved sleepĮlectronic media is not your friend when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep, especially if it’s used in the hours close to bedtime. By the time I got to class I had become so consumed with my breathing and sense of place I forgot about my phone altogether. Focusing on my breath helped me savor my time being outside and eased my anxiety about not being on my phone.
As one young woman reported:ĭuring my walks from my dorm to my classes, I took my time breathing in the fresh air. As children of the smartphone age, some of them were experiencing long periods of uninterrupted attention for the first time in years, episodes of micro-mindfulness that can be deeply nourishing.
When students write about their experiences on the fast, one of the most common themes is “present-moment awareness.” Using a range of terms such as presence, sensory awareness, mindfulness, immersion, and flow, fully half of the students spontaneously describe these experiences as a hallmark of their fast, which typically kick in after a day or two. In the fast, I emphasize the importance of breaking the constant checking habit and removing their devices from the flow of their daily experience: during class, in the transitional moments walking from one place to another, in their moments of downtime when they so often turn to their phones to fill in the blank spaces of their lives. Most will need to check and reply to messages at least once a day. Their phones and computers are their main links to family, friends, schoolwork, and other commitments. When I assign the media fast in my classes, I know that a “cold turkey” fast is unrealistic for most students. From the GGSC to your bookshelf: 30 science-backed tools for well-being.
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