Alex Beattie and John Kerr conducted a survey of 1,000 New Zealanders, exploring their habits, motivations, and challenges around intentional digital disconnection. Their findings offer intriguing insights into this phenomenon. It’s likely that similar trends would be observed in other countries as well.
Notably, nearly a quarter of participants reported never intentionally disconnecting. This could either be a choice or because disconnecting can be challenging.
For example, we found there are several barriers to unplugging. The first is the now basic need to access services – banking, paying bills, transport, two-step login verification – that require an internet connection.
Many also use a smart device for leisure pursuits, including exercise and entertainment, that prevents them unplugging. With so many aspects of life intertwined with devices, leaving your phone at home is not a simple calculation these days.
One particular sentence caught my eye, which is one of our goals here at Unplug Tribe:
Teaching young people how to disconnect, rather than doing it for them, will be crucial in an ever-more-connected future.
To be fair, this is a problem that we all face, not just young people. The challenges are many – societal, economic, and environmental, among others. It is up to us to be conscious about our technology use and unplugging purposefully for our wellbeing.
Photo by Bob Ward from pexels.com.
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