Let’s go on a digital detoxification to see how much of the electronic clutter we can cleanse from our lives
- The digital detox is invaluable in preparing for that dreadful day when you break your smartphone, or drop it in the sea
- So much of our life is now embedded in it, that an annual pause to think through a survival guide must surely have merit
For many years, it was fashionable to devote January to a detox, normally from alcohol and often from coffee.
This year, for the first time, my friends are devoting January to a digital detox. The idea has much to commend it, but where to start and how to survive?
For a digital dinosaur like me, the task is simpler. I don’t play computer games, nor have any passion to share curiously decorated photos of myself. I have always avoided Facebook, not just because my daughters never wanted me peeking in on their social lives, or because I’m uncomfortable with the loss of privacy, but because I discovered early that the viral power of Facebook can consume all waking hours – and then more.
I have also always been disdainful of Twitter – not because Donald Trump uses them so indiscriminately, but because I rather snootily believe that nothing important can be coherently conveyed in such a tiny quota of characters.
I know there are some exceptions, like when Obama tweeted “Four more years”, but I still stand by my general conviction. I am much less interested in “Likes”, or “Followers” than in communicating meaningfully with people I know and care about.
So my detox is easier than for some. But it is challenging nevertheless. While I am a digital dinosaur, I am also a digital pioneer, being trained to write and file my FT news and features back in 1981 when each computer cost US$10,000.