digital detox

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a deliberate period of abstaining from digital devices, social media, and internet-connected technology in order to reduce stress, improve sleep, enhance face-to-face connection, and restore a sense of autonomy over one's attention and time; digital detox practices range from weekend phone-free retreats to annual screen sabbaticals, and have spawned a wellness industry of apps, camps, and programmes designed to help people disconnect; the concept reflects widespread cultural ambivalence about technology dependence and the colonisation of everyday life by notification-driven apps, and implicitly accepts the framing of platform design as addictive — requiring withdrawal rather than merely a change of habits