It's time for a Digital Detox!

“Groundswell technologies are exploding. They're cheap and easy to create and improve, they tap easily into the Internet advertising economy, and they connect people who naturally want to connect.” (274 Groundswell)

All of it sounds good and when you first think about the pros of the groundswell you don't seam to find any cons. But sadly, it might be rather devastating. The groundswell has already embedded within every activity in the real world.(275)

There is no doubt that social media with all its entertainment and communication opportunities can cause an addiction. And just like with any other types of addiction, sooner or later there comes a concern and then a detox.

Social media addiction can cause FoMO which stands for Fear of Missing Out which I've already talked about in one of my reсent posts. And just like with anything else in the Universe there is an opposite phenomenon called JoMO - Joy of Missing Out. While term FoMO has been out there for quite a long time, JoMO appeared rather recently in 2012. The term was first mentioned by a blogger Anil Dash.

Joy of Missing Out: enjoying what you’re doing in the here and now and not on social media broadcasting or seeing what everybody else is doing.(urbandictionary.com)

JoMO touched the right chord. The Huffington Post has named 2014 “The Year of JOMO”. JoMO became so popular and has been extensively discussed, that in 2013 term 'digital detox' was registered in Oxford dictionary.

Lets take a look at how people in different countries give up on the Internet and cell phones in order to come back to “normal” lifestyle.

Wisdom 2.0

Large IT-companies were first who experienced information overload. Google for example is practicing silent lunches and has meditation rooms for its employees; Facebook and Twitter made meditative practices essential part of weekly work routine. Digital corporations exchange their practices resisting digital-slavery on annual Wisdom 2.0 conference held in winter in California. Conference headliners are top managers of LinkedIn, Twitter, Cisco, Ford, spiritual instructors and philosophers. First Wisdom 2.0 conference counted 200 attendants, by 2013 the number reached 1700 attendants.

Hamburgers vs. Facebook friends

Burger King held anti-digital Whopper® Sacrifice campaign under the slogan “Friendship is strong but the whopper is stronger”. Burger King promised to grant a free whooper to everyone who would delete 10 friends via Whopper® Sacrifice app and announce it on Facebook. After 233 906 friends sacrificed Facebook closed the app as it contradicted its policy.

Off-line camps

Two summers in a row hundreds of people come to Camp Grounded located in California to do a digital detox. Any kind of digital devices including photo and video cameras are prohibited here. Instead there are lake swimming, talent contests, songs near fire and other scout activities. There are no real names and work talks. No fast food, alcohol and drugs. No kids. Instead of Facebook there is a face art, instead of email – normal mail box.

No Wi-Fi hotels

Some hotels now ask their guests to leave all electronic devises on the reception desk or offer special digital-detox programs. For example some hotels in Caribbean Sea offer a seven-day detox program developed by Department of Tourism and psychologist Louise Gillespie Smith. The program provides couches helping people to overcome the demolition.

No cell phones party

For those who suffer from FoMO and get a good hold of their cell phones even on a party Singapore geeks invented Social Rehab. It's a kit including color lens glasses (replacing Instagram), “Like” stickers, note cards to write down tweets and sketch pads. The kit can be used in everyday life and on special Social Rehab parties.

Anti-tech clothes and accessory

The Way We See The World - NY product design consultancy came up with the idea of creating a tech accessory called Phonekerchief. It's a cover for your cell phone blocking incoming calls and texts. This invention aims to help people not to get distracted by the technology during person to person communications.

Japanees designer Kunihiko Morinaga created a line of clothing that blocks cell phone signals allowing people wearing it to focus on physical life.

Apps vs. apps

There are quite a few digital detox apps:

Headspace – aims to better your life quality and teach how to fight stress and tiredness with simple yet effective meditation lessons;

Keepmeout – temporarily blocks access to social media websites;

Digital Detox App – shuts down your electronic device for a set period of time;

Accountkiller – provides links to instructions on how to delete accounts from all popular networks;

DeleteMe – deletes all personal information from some biggest social networks including contact information and photos.

As said in the book “when the groundswell surrounds you like a cocoon, when you breath it like air and depend on it always, the world will feel very different.” (275) And it already does feel different! It's time to make a right decision whether to dive into the world of technology with our heads or learn how to know when enough is enough. What are your thoughts?

Can't stop checking your social media accounts? Fill anxious about missing out? - You have FoMO.

Do you ever find yourself worried that everybody else is doing something fun without you? 

You may have FoMO.

 FoMO stands for Fear of Missing Out, it is a psychological phenomenon that may have devastating effect on your life. Andrew Przybylski defines FoMO as "a pervasive apprehension that others might behaving rewarding experiences from which one is absent, FoMO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing".
 However Andrew Przybylski was not the first one who define FoMO, Dan Herman was. He observed this phenomenon back in 90's and was the first to come up with the term. He's been listening to consumers who "...expressed a clearly fearful attitude towards the possibility of failing to exhaust their opportunities". It appeared to be a new phenomenon  in customer psychology. Later on he began researching FoMO more as a socio-cultural phenomenon and as a personality factor. And it is no wonder that Dan Herman inspired other scientists to study this new phenomenon.

 Surely enough social media and social networks in particular are a good thing as "they connect people who've moved apart even as they enable people who live close together to keep up with one another...help to create new relationships" (23 Groundswell). But sometimes there is a dark side. And it is FoMO. It has been out there for probably forever, but now with all these social media websites at our fingertips we may suffer from it more then ever before. If you are an active social media user there are chances you may experience FoMO. And when you miss out on some important peace of information your level of stress and anxiety jumps up.

 It may sound naive or even impossible, but people should probably learn how to use social networks and on-line technologies moderately. It is important to know the limit as an overuse of social media is an addiction which is just like any other kind of addiction. It also a good thing to identify your priorities. What is more important to you, what party your BFF crashed without you or the fact that your project deadline is tomorrow.

 If you are curious what your FoMO rate is, you can take an online questionnaire that was used by Andrew Przybylski and other scientists in their study featured in the article "Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out".

 And you may end up with this result, just like I did:

According to latest studies around 70% of all adults in developed countries suffer from FoMO.

 Stop FOMO! Fight it! Figuring out your own priorities will help you stop feeling overwhelmed by what other people do without you. To fight FoMO Andrew Przybylski recommends “knowing not just what your plans are for Saturday night, but what are your reasons for wanting to do that thing on Saturday night [...] why the heck you’re going out in the first place.” Ones you understand what you want you will be less bothered by what other people do.