Digital Detox

Many of us live with nearly constant mental stimulation. While walking, standing or driving, for example, how many of you listen to a podcast or other information input? While I’m a big fan of podcasts, the unstructured time that used to be embedded into daily life has largely been replaced by a nonstop stimulus-tsunami.

While some level of mental stimulation keeps our minds agile and youthful, too much information inflow seems to accompany rising incidences of anxiety and dis-ease. Like the physical body thrives when activity is punctuated with recovery time, the mind functions best when wakefulness is punctuated with gaps that we may otherwise label as boring.

Sometimes "boredom" can be mentally nourishing.

I’ve found that observing the interstitial spaces in my day leads to greater wellbeing. For example, there are inevitably gaps between sessions, Zoom meetings and classes. I default to quickly checking email in these interstices, though I rarely have enough time to answer them. By making that quick check, I get a shot of the adrenaline (look at how much important stuff I have to do!) that often accompanies stress (look at all the unanswered emails that are hanging over me!) In the prior blog posting I mentioned specific techniques that I employ to work more effectively with email, and I also take periodic retreats to reset my system.

I opt out of the constant stream of mental input by periodically taking meditation retreat. While there is much to be written about taking even a few hours of retreat time, for the time being I’ll focus primarily on the digital detox aspect of my forthcoming retreat.

Later this week Collette and I are going to take a few days to focus on meditation practice. In addition to the 6+ hours per day of seated meditation practice, I’ll be focusing on decoupling from the mental inputs that I both use and abuse. Here are a few of the techniques I generally employ during meditation retreat or digital detox.

• News: I believe it’s important to remain cognizant of current events by staying on top of the news, though I readily descend into nervously checking the news in a way that’s not related to being an informed citizen – it’s an expression of and accelerator of anxiety. I’ll be taking a break from the news during retreat.
• Social: Social media allows me to keep in touch with many old friends from various chapters of life. While much has been written about fully unplugging from all social media, I choose to modulate my engagement with Facebook and Instagram in the hopes of reaping the positives from these platforms. That being said, I can default into filling interstices with mindless scrolling. During retreat, I’ll be taking a break from social media.
• Infotainment: Podcasts and other infotainment have brought wisdom from diverse voices into my life. I’m grateful for all the interviews with authors, activists, thought leaders and visionaries I’ve had the good fortune to listen to, though remain aware that this plugging-in has an opportunity cost in idle time. Mental boredom is precious, and often the fuel for thinking creatively.

In the coming days, I’ll be steering clear of inputs like podcasts, videos and the like. Like any detox, I often find the first day or so of retreat pretty challenging – sometimes almost painful. In a forthcoming posting I’ll talk more about my caffeine detox (headache, sciatica, insomnia, and nausea) and the parallels to digital detox. In the meantime, Happy New Year!