Johannesburg – Not too long ago curious journalists were committing to weekends and weeks, if not months, to living in isolation, but for a computer with access to the internet.
It was all part of an experiment to discover whether you could survive with nothing more than virtual access to the world. It seems quite ludicrous now. Nevertheless these feature stories proved entertaining – could you get by with virtual sex? It was almost a rite of passage for a writer to discover if they required human contact. This is possibly the case because isolation is a by-product of writing – even if you are at your most productive in a noisy coffee shop, where you will inevitably be seated alone and held ransom by a screen.
Of course, now we find ourselves in quite the opposite quandary. Having access to the internet has become a barrier to seclusion – and productivity. It is almost impossible to write for any length of time without opening Facebook, Twitter or picking up your phone and browsing in Instagram. Writers have never had more distractions or tools at their fingertips to facilitate procrastination.
The über-fashionable ;pca; author, Lauren Beukes, famous for Zoo City, is one of a host of writers who seem to spend an inordinate amount of time crafting 140-character messages to the world on Twitter. It is a form of writing, after all, and one could argue that perhaps social media are where writers can engage more directly and immediately with their reading public.
Just think how Teju Cole, the Nigerian author and academic living in New York, has used Twitter not only to carve out a public persona, but to create a unique form of expression within this realm. Some argue that the distinctive syntax in Open City(2010) is somehow an extension of the economical style and mode of observation we associate with his Twitter content.
Beukes admitted she had installed an app to prevent herself from browsing online when she was meant to be writing.
There are a host of such apps. FocusBooster forces you to work without distractions for 25 minutes before an alarm goes off, freeing you for an online-browsing break. For $15 (R178) AntiSocial helps you block out social media websites that tempt you and direct your attention away from your work.
Exactly how effective these apps can be is questionable when you could just as easily pick up your phone and access Facebook or the like – unless you have installed the apps on it too.
Journalist and author Darrel Bristow-Bovey’s solution was to do away with a smartphone.
“At least this way I don’t spend the whole day sending tweets to TO Molefe,” Bristow-Bovey said, referring to his fellow writer and Twitter nemesis.
Navigating a better or healthier relationship with digital media seems to be the quest du jour. It has become almost as fashionable as being permanently connected was in the early days of interconnectivity. People pursuing more productive and possibly more rounded lives are dubbing it Digital Detoxing, as if digital media were the new fast food or drug.
Is it just an addiction or is it a necessity?
This was the question swirling around in my head after an enforced spell of digital detoxing, when, over the Christmas period, I accidentally left my iPhone in Joburg.
Due to the frequency with which I use it, it did not take me long to discover I had misplaced it: I was queueing to check in for a flight. Of course, once I realised, I was paralysed. How would I call my husband to tell him? I had no idea what his phone number was! The only cellphone number I knew off by heart was my own. Accustomed to venting about such moments of distress or asking a community of people to assist, I was panicked by the thought that I couldn’t post anything about my terrible predicament.
As I stood in the queue and tried to figure out a solution I felt overwhelmed by the sense of loss. I had not only lost a phone, but a camera, a map (how would I navigate around my destination?) and the tools I use to stay connected to friends, acquaintances and strangers.
I wouldn’t be able to Instagram my trip. The horror. Travelling without publicising it would be like visiting a restaurant without eating. I might have been standing in a busy airport, but it was if I were stranded in a psychic desert without a compass, water, food or a sunhat.
There is a name for this condition, “nomophobia”, defined as the fear of being out of cellphone contact, according to Dion Chang, the director of Flux Trends, the Joburg company that has been leading research into the effects of digital media on society.
When a UK institution identified that people were spending more time on digital media than sleeping, Chang realised we had reached a “tipping point” and was determined to understand the phenomenon and figure out a way out of it. It is not only writers who are struggling to lead normal lives – everyone is suffering from the data overload and too much virtual access.
“It is no wonder that we are so exhausted by the end of the year,” said Chang. “Between our virtual and off-line lives we don’t have enough time. After 12 months we feel as if we have been active for 24 months.”
Flux Trends’ research into this psychosocial phenomenon, shall we call it, has turned up all sorts of shocking data from around the world. The researchers came across internet addicts in China who wear adult nappies so they don’t have to leave their computer screens. This may be why there are more than 300 centres in China dealing with internet addiction, according to Chang. There is also an account of a child who had to be sedated to attend an internet addiction boot camp.
Most of us may not need to be sedated to be parted from our phones or laptops, but we do suffer effects other than being less productive. Burnout is the most common complaint, according to Chang.
“Your brain doesn’t get any downtime.”
We spend every waking hour – and sometimes those moments between being awake and asleep – attached to a screen. It all boils down to a lack of boundaries. We don’t know when enough is enough, says Chang.
“I have lost entire days just staring at my screen, clicking from one thing to the next,” says Malibongwe Tyilo, a writer, fashion blogger and contributing editor for Visi magazine. Facebook was his poison of choice and, using drug addiction parlance, he describes it as the “gateway to the internet for me. I have a lot of like-minded people on my timeline, so there is always something of interest being shared. I also shared a lot on Facebook, especially humorous posts, and I’d find myself obsessing over likes. Living for likes.”
It is easy to become an internet or social media addict as the body responds positively to digital devices. Researchers have found that engaging with such devices elicits the same kind of pleasure as a gambler experiences in front of a roulette wheel, according to Chang.
“Likes and comments create feelings of euphoria,” he says.
It was not pleasure alone that Tyilo experienced from being online: political or controversial opinions that conflicted with his own engendered the opposite effect.
“I found myself getting so angry at people for their clichéd political views, or getting caught up in the outrage scene, which didn’t seem to achieve much other than sending me on an emotional roller-coaster.”
For this reason Tyilo decided to take the unthinkable step: to deactivate his Facebook account and “unfollow” friends and acquaintances on Instagram.
“I really just wanted to cut down on the noise – there is just so much noise online. I am a freelancer. I just can’t afford to lose entire days to Facebook.”
This form of abstinence is growing popular, not just as an experiment or a phase but as a lifestyle choice. Naturally, given his present research topic, Chang has also decided to “detox” his digital life. He checks his e-mail twice a day. When he goes on holiday, he informs all his business associates and clients that their e-mails during this period will be automatically deleted.
This approach is being implemented as policy in Germany, particularly in the motor industry, where employees are no longer obliged to respond to communications after hours. It is expected this will be included in labour law this year, according to Chang.
South Africa may not be as progressive, but given the interest in Flux Trends’ research by corporates such as Anglo Gold, it seems likely that more and more employers will impose digital boundaries on employees as a way of reducing burnout and other consequences of digital overloading, such as depression, insomnia and, of course, a decrease in productivity.
Making the break is not easy at first, says Tyilo. “It was incredibly lonely for the first couple of days. It was the first time in years that I couldn’t check what my friends were up to. All I wanted to do was post a status update on Facebook about how incredibly lonely it was to be off Facebook.”
In time, however, Tyilo has adjusted and implies that his quality of life is better. He is reading books – something he says he hadn’t done in years. He feels “calmer” and is less obsessed with comparing his lifestyle with other people’s.
“Sure, I knew a whole lot less about what was going on, but I also realised that I didn’t need all of this information because most of the time it’s just a distraction.”
Tyilo’s experience resonated with the thoughts I had after I had to reconcile myself to being separated from my smartphone over the Christmas period. As the days passed I felt more relaxed. I had more time on my hands that I could devote to more constructive pursuits. I realised that constant connectivity had been creating unnecessary stress. It was pleasant and rewarding just to be, without reporting on it or viewing what other people were or weren’t doing.
The growing “mindful” movement that encourages existing in and relishing the present is finding traction because of the effects of digital overloading, says Chang.
By the time my phone had been couriered to my holiday destination the panic had subsided and I had formed a new and healthier relationship with technology after an enforced period of digital detoxing.
“It is not so difficult to change your behavioural patterns,” says Chang. “You don’t have to be connected all the time – you can dip in and out.”
Most importantly, by making a conscious choice about when to be online or on social media websites or apps, you get to “engage with technology on your own terms rather than being a slave to it”, Chang concludes.
Sunday Independent