Go On A Digital Detox

Power down, unplug, and reconnect instead with your IRL life.

- Jovi Figueroa

Imagine the look on your friends’ faces when they learn that you haven’t watched the latest cat video that’s going viral on Facebook; or when you miss the tweet of that girl you’ve been crushing on for years now; or that you weren’t able to join the IG live of that celebrity talking about her lunch today. The horror! Face it: you’ve been officially FoMO-ed!

In this day and age of technology and social media, it’s increasingly harder to not get devoured by this phenomenon called FoMO, or that Fear of Missing Out. We don’t want to be that one guy who has yet to see the latest trending video or who can’t join in on the conversation because he wasn’t online last night.

But is this kind of clinginess to technology, of harboring feelings of separation anxiety with social media, still healthy? Is it healthy that when you get together as a group, your topic of conversation would always be this friend’s post last night or worse, that you won’t be having an actual conversation at all because everyone is just tapping away on their rectangular lit-up boxes of radiation?

It’s not easy to digest the fact that it’s okay to be disconnected. While it’s hard, it’s not impossible. Get rid of that nasty FoMO and remind yourself that there is so much more productivity and fun outside the four corners of your smartphone. It’s time to roll up your metaphorical sleeves, put on your running shoes, and trim down your digital obesity.

BUY A GOOD OL’ FASHION ALARM CLOCK

Relive that aching desire to smash shut an old-fashioned alarm clock (the one that comes with two ringers!) just like in the movies. Don’t use your phone as an alarm clock because it urges you to check it the moment you wake up. Instead of sending a “Just woke up, insert emoji here” snap, get up and greet your family a good morning.