Digital Detox: The New Luxury in the Attention Economy

Author: Piyush Kumar Agrawal

L-1

LEVEL ONE – HOOK: The Quiet Trap We Don’t Notice

“We don’t scroll because we’re bored.

We scroll because doing nothing now feels strange.”

Likely, you don’t recall when you last looked at your phone; it just sort of happened. A faint buzz – a brief glance. Then, within seconds, one tap on the screen suddenly turned into five minutes of “nothing important” or “nothing urgent.” Yet, you spent that time with your device anyway.

You likely do it while you wait in a line or ride in a taxi; you also likely do it while you lie down to go to sleep. Each pause you take gets filled, not due to necessity, but because you can. You are now accustomed to a silence that feels awkward rather than relaxing.

We believe we are in control of this device; however, when you reach for your mobile device, do you think you are in charge? Who is really “in charge of you?” L-2

LEVEL TWO – THE MACHINE: How Platforms Are Engineered to Hijack Attention

Most of us like to believe that our use of apps is entirely voluntary, but in reality, most of the platforms aren't simply a blank canvas for us to create on; they are designed to keep us coming back.

When we use social media apps, the actual product that is being sold is not the app; it is our attention. The longer you're using an application, the more ads you will see and in turn, the more money the company is going to make from your time spent using the app.

The reason why so many of the features in these applications are so "sticky," like infinite scrolling, autoplaying videos and the frequency of notifications, is that they have been carefully tested and optimized to ensure you use them as frequently as possible.

Likes and views are designed to provide the user with little rewards so that you will keep checking back, even when you might not have received an immediate reward or have received more than one reward. And the uncomfortable truth is that if an application is free, you're not a customer, you're the product.

So, if you find yourself spending longer than planned scrolling through an application, it's not because you've got no willpower; it's because there is an entire system created to make it hard for you to resist.

L-3

LEVEL THREE – THE DAMAGE: What This System Is Quietly Taking From Us

Being busy doesn’t guarantee us being restless. We may find ourselves restless in our heads due to the absence of any noticeable activity. At times, we look to our phones simply because it is uncomfortable being still.

A second type of tiredness, besides what sleep provides, is to relieve your physical fatigue. A tiredness from being pulled in many directions by constantly switching between one text and another, watching reels or searching for one on social networks, or checking for one notification after another, or thinking of one subject, then having to shift to another subject. At the end of the day, it seems that you have done nothing but feel tired.

A related element has to do with any and all types of validations – if you post something that doesn’t do well, you can feel down; if someone doesn’t respond to your text or acknowledge it in some way, that can produce the same negative feelings. When we begin to connect our emotional well-being with relatively minor forms of digital social interaction, we don’t realize we’re doing it.

Lastly, hovering above our heads is an overall feeling of anxiety, knowing that there could be something going on without you being aware of it. There are many hidden costs associated with distractions like time, but most importantly, there will be the loss of peace.

L-4

LEVEL FOUR – THE REVERSAL: Why Digital Detox Became a Luxury

The definition of luxury has changed dramatically from something expensive to something that is very hard to come by – uninterrupted time; silence, the ability to concentrate on a single task without being pulled in ten different directions and getting distracted by hundreds of other things. Constantly being online used to be a big deal, but now it's commonplace. The only thing that stands out today is when someone does not reply right away or does not check every notification, etc. Choosing not to answer every single ring for attention in a world of constant demands has now taken on a whole new meaning of being in control.

Digital detoxing does not feel like a new wellness trend, but rather it appears to be more of a luxury. While there are people who cannot afford to simply stop working due to job demands, those who do take time off from work (even for a short period) show others that they are in control of their own time.

Silence is a rare thing. Focus is also very hard to come by; therefore, anything that is rare usually becomes a high-priced item. This is the new standard: the highest sign of social standing now is the lack of ability to reach you, rather than the ability to find you.

L-5

LEVEL FIVE – THE RETURN OF CONTROL: Reclaiming Attention as a Personal Act

A digital detox is not an anti-tech or anti-internet movement; it is about how we interact with technology and making sure our focus gets the respect it deserves instead of something as simple as continued scrolling.

When people are interrupting you as much as they do these days, you have to make decisions about when you want to be online, but this does not have to be a huge decision; you can do it in quiet, unnoticed ways, such as by not checking your phone immediately when you wake up or by not opening an app simply because your hand is bored.

There are no 'delete everything' or 'go off-grid' mandates; a digital detox is being aware of being dragged into something without actually wanting to go and creating room again to:

• think

• rest

• sit with boredom

• be "present" while you are there

Because attention is not only a habit, it is also a limited commodity, and you don't get more of it; you just choose how to use it.

Ultimately, the main question in life is: What do you want to do with your own time? No application, algorithm, or alert system can tell you what you should do better than you can do it. If anything remains as the ultimate quiet luxury within the attention economy, it is living a life of your choosing, independent of anyone else's online presence.