Can we really be free? Many philosophers and scientists have already asked themselves this question. There are whole variations on free will, whether it exists at all or whether we are just beings dictated by hormones and chemistry. I myself am convinced that we have free will, even if a decision happens in my brain before I am aware of it, this brain is undoubtedly mine and therefore me.
But what about pressures that act on me from outside, of which I am not aware, and which nevertheless tempt me to act? Perhaps tempting me to consume more, to buy more and more. I'm talking about social media.
The self-experiment
Over the last 15 years, I've had more and more days where I feel like I'm in a trance, a bit dull, numb, but also rushed. A lot of this is probably due to the fact that I'm no longer a student, have less free time and my lifestyle has changed a lot. But now I also think it's the media, the electronic media, which bombard me every day. It was only through the self-experiment that I realized how strongly they influenced me, captured me.
Consider a child who is confronted with lots of stimuli, for example in a shopping center - lots of lights, people, voices, noises - at some point it is overwhelmed and usually starts to cry, or is so exhausted that it falls asleep. We adults can already deal with this, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't overwhelm us as well.
For Lent 2021, I therefore resolved to reduce external stimuli, or to be precise, to completely avoid social media such as Facebook and Instagram. It's called a digital detox these days.
The summary
I started by removing the social media apps from my home screen and deactivating all push notifications. In the first few days, I kept unlocking my smartphone and staring at the empty hole where the shortcuts used to be. Especially when I got up and before going to sleep, it felt strange not to look through the timeline.
What was going on in my brain? Was I afraid of the silence? Afraid of missing something?
- Wasting time
Before I started the digital detox, I had my smartphone with me all the time. Every time I was "idle", I opened it, checked whether there were any new messages or new posts... I did this on the toilet, while cooking, when my son was finishing his breakfast, whenever I had a brief moment of peace. Because: time is scarce and if I did as many things as possible at the same time, I could get more done, learn and experience more in one day.
But this is a total fallacy. Multi-tasking is poison for concentration, nothing has total attention. It tires you out, overwhelms you, makes you dissatisfied, sometimes even aggressive.
And now? I've done a lot of things in the last month that I thought I didn't have time for. Now I know that I just lacked inner peace and concentration.
I've actually read a magazine, I've watched a historical documentary about women's rights activists, I've listened to an online conversation with Jane Goodall, I've watched my children play, I've read several pages of a book. I've watched challenging movies without surfing on my phone (e.g. "100 Things", which funnily enough turned out to be a movie about the constraints of smartphones), visited an art museum... I wrote this article.
- Miss something
A ring to enslave them, to find them all,
to drive them into darkness and bind them forever
This sentence by JRR Tolkien comes to mind when I think of social media. "Attention, this story is only available for 24 hours, check back regularly or you'll miss it!"
My mother always said: "You don't miss anything in life." My experiences have shown me that she was right, because you do everything that is really important to you. Other things only seem important at the time and can safely pass by without my participation.
After a month without social media, I not only spend less time on my cell phone, I also no longer jump to my cell phone when I hear a "bling". I even forget about it and only read the text message an hour later. You know what? The world hasn't come to an end and I haven't missed anything.
- The silence
Sometimes everyday life challenges my psyche, I feel lost and vulnerable. Scrolling through the superficial world of Instagram and the like does me good. But now? I talk to someone about it, so I work on the cause and don't cover up the symptoms with media.
- Equilibrium
A sunset - I enjoy it. Before the digital detox, I spent 20-30 minutes a day on social media. That's not that much, but I was probably unlocking my phone 30-40 times a day. In addition, my head was often full of thoughts like - could I share this mood, this sunset in my story? Who would be interested, would it look good? So I spent much more time mentally than 20-30 minutes on social media, time that blocked my head and stole so many beautiful moments from me. Now I long even more to free myself from my smartphone, because I still check it very often - reading news, WhatsApp messages, checking emails...
What do I learn from Lent?
It takes at least two weeks for automatisms to disappear and behavioral patterns to change. Doing the digital detox for the entire fasting period has completely weaned me off it. I reduce social media to a minimum, have canceled many subscriptions, only follow serious sites that help me move forward mentally and set fixed times for use.
I no longer want to be controlled by social media, I want to continue to feel this freedom, these intense emotions. To be free from the dullness, the trance that you are put into by sensory overload and excessive demands.
I want to continue to enjoy the free moments. Have you ever done a digital detox? Have you had similar experiences to mine?
If you've never done it before, I highly recommend it.
Author: Dr. Isabell Riedl
Dr. Isabell Riedl has been with LAMPERT since 2012 and is head of the sustainability and communications department. She studied ecology with a focus on nature and landscape conservation and tropical ecology at the University of Vienna. She wrote her dissertation on the importance of tree rows in agricultural areas for forest birds in Costa Rica. Throughout her life, she has been particularly committed to ecological sustainability. She is part of the editorial team of the online magazine "Nachhaltigkeit. Rethink."
