Follow a Digital diet for a healthier tech life

As a human being I have always believed that our species is capable of doing and adapting to anything and everything. The way we adapt to changes in our lives- be it a loss of a close relative/friend or some material possession- is indeed phenomenal. Some of these do take time but with others we just move over.

There is however, one invention which is critically challenging this perception of mine. Yes, we did adopt and adapt to this thing at a jarring speed but the problem now is how to do without it.

Technology is the biggest boon of science to human beings redefining every aspect of our interaction, communication and living as a whole. Thanks to GPS, one rarely thinks before venturing out on a road trip to an unknown place. Without much monetary investment, your business is going places- ICT has shrunk the world into a small place. On a personal front your toddler learnt all the alphabets, numbers, rhymes, fruits, vegetables etc., even before she turned two with your iPad.

But then,this too-much-tech did ruin my second anniversary Maldives trip which ended with a vow that I wouldn’t want to go on another trip with my husband ever. Half of the time he was attending business calls and in the rest, just random swiping through his mails and posts. I, too, am not without guilt. The last book, I read was three years back and my usual excuse is time constraints. But on weekends, when I do have time, I while it away checking Facebook, Twitter or just casual surfing.

Ironically, even amidst all this tech ruckus, I couldn’t really point it down to technology then. For me technology couldn’t be the culprit. It had made my life as a working parent so much simpler, easier and convenient.

But then I came across this book- "The Digital Diet: A four-step plan to break your tech addiction and regain balance in your life" by Daniel Sieberg. It was a gift from my mom and I vividly remember my first reaction on seeing the book- ‘Seriously mom, Is this a gift?’

There wasn’t anything in those pages that I hadn’t heard of or experienced before. What I didn’t know was my addiction and that living without my smartphone for a day could be this challenging. Sieberg made me acknowledge the real problem, which I wasn’t able to do till now. Like him, like many others, I too was suffering from tech overdose. It was time to step back and ponder.

Technology which connects you to hundreds of friends and people across seas often disconnects you with relationships that really matter in real life. I realized like Sieberg that it was time for me to “streamline my digital intake, improve my relationships, and make technology work for me, not the other way around.”

He gives you a four step process:
Step 1
Re: Think: Consider how immersed you are in technology. Be honest. What is the effect it has had on your physical, mental and emotional health?

Step 2
Re: Boot: Use Sieberg’s innovative Virtual Weight Index to quantify the impact technology has on your daily life. What’s your VWI?

Step 3
Re: Connect: Yes, there actually are ways other than email and text to communicate with a loved one. Restore those valuable relationships.

Step 4
Re: Vitalize: Re-introduce technology into your life with your new outlook. Find a healthy balance and use technology to help you.

Digital diet isn’t easy, admitted. The key, like any diet is discipline.

Make realistic targets. Start with a day. Plan to spend the coming Saturday with your spouse or your child leaving behind that phone in a closet. It’s going to be tough for the first few days but then just a couple of days’ anxiety isn’t a bad bargain to regain control on your life.

Though a small but a very significant step in your diet plan could be to unsubscribe from unnecessary mails and turning off notifications. You don’t really need alerts every time someone likes you photo or every time a friend posts his/her holiday pictures in Paris.

Any starting point is good. You just need to tick off and then stick, howsoever small limit you set. Be honest. You are doing it for your own self.

Digital diet isn’t a magic wand which will make you, your husband or your friends throw away their gadgets into a bin one morning and start living a tech-free life. That’s not possible. Technology is all pervasive, you cannot escape it.

Instead, it presents an opportunity for us to take an honest look at our lives and assess what is and isn’t working. This Digital Diet as Sieberg says is “designed to guide you to a new life in four weeks... The ripple effects could improve everything from your familial relations to your marriage to your work performance. The ultimate goal is to improve yourself.”

For  we have tackled the topics of social detoxification in our earlier articles.