We tested to disconnect several days

Almost one in four Belgian says he is addicted to his smartphone. Nevertheless, Including me … Furthermore, but more for a long time, I hope! Meanwhile, Because here is my journey, from addiction to deliverance. Meanwhile, By Annelore de Donder. In addition,

Locking applications, time slots of use and frustration … For example, Our journalist Annelore de Donder tested a first digital detox. For example, Spoiler alert, it was not easy to let go of your smartphone! Furthermore,

Tape – We tested disconnect several days

I dare say it: I am addicted to my smartphone. Similarly, THE Pr dompsychiatrist specializing in addictology. Consequently, with more than 30 years of experience, seems to confirm it to me: “Even if dependence on the smartphone is not yet recognized as a mental disorder – there is no official diagnosis yet – it is increasingly obvious we tested disconnect several days that some people encounter this problem. For example, “He therefore believes that my problematic relationship can legitimately qualify with my smartphone” Substance abuse ». In addition, Based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-5), a classification which lists eleven criteria under the section “Disorders linked to the use of substances”. However,

“The more criteria that apply to you, the more serious the disorder,” says the expert. Therefore, I check: “more frequent. Therefore, prolonged use than expected”, “repeated and unsuccessful attempts to reduce or stop”, “strong desire to consume”, “breaches of work, studies or at home due to use”. In addition, Four criteria: a ” moderate disorder“, According to the DSM-5. In addition, From six (including “continuing use despite an obvious danger”), it is a severe disorder.

La phase procrastination – We tested disconnect several days

I need help. Meanwhile, ” Good morning, Pr domI have to write an article on my we tested disconnect several days life without iPhone. Moreover, »« The device you call me? However, Ouch, he is right: technically, I cannot do without the very source of my addiction. Therefore, Our life has so digitalized that it is almost impossible to completely ban these tools. Consequently, But it is not necessary to ban it overnight, reassures me the psychiatrist. Similarly, “For some people, the smartphone is the main means of contact with others. Meanwhile, Rather, you have to think about how to maintain positive aspects and strategies that can help you reduce negative effects. However, I start therefore. Nevertheless, as he advises me, with a analyse SWOTto identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats linked to my use of the smartphone.

Du « not » au SWOT – We tested disconnect several days

The forces: I we tested disconnect several days can be reached. For example, I can do multitasking, I am aware of the life of my loved ones – and they of mine -, I know the news, I am entertained, inspired and I have quick access to information. Moreover, The weaknesses: I am too reachable. Therefore, I feel the social pressure, I let myself be easily distracted, I waste time and I am always late – I no longer count the minutes where I “chest quickly” before getting out of the car -, my posture no longer looks like nothing and my eyes are exhausted, I lack attention for what surrounds me and I escape too easily in the virtual. In addition, The opportunities: I can use apps to better control my consumption of social networks. Nevertheless, Threats: I am influenced by fake news. Nevertheless, negativity and algorithms, I run a risk of damage to my private life, we tested disconnect several days my children have a distorted image of my real priorities and my concentration capacity will alter in the long term.

To write it black on white is still a shock. Similarly, “A list of behaviors, feelings of guilt and shame that one would like to no longer feel … In addition, These are indeed the ingredients of addiction,” comments the psychiatrist. Similarly, Here, that’s it. Therefore, Add the implacable statistics of the screen time on my phone: on weekdays. However, I go on average 2 h 30 per day on social networks. Furthermore, With the main guilty Instagram and its damn Reels (1 h 30), followed by WhatsApp and Facebook (each 30 minutes). Moreover, Number of times I have activated my phone: 143. Furthermore, about 9 times per hour, every 6 minutes. Similarly, And we are surprised that we no longer manage to concentrate. Professor Dom tells me that 30 we tested disconnect several days to 40 % of users have excessive use of their smartphone. OK. Here I am “real” motivated to get out of it.

La phase Brick

It’s not like I’ve never tried to decrease. I have programmed for a long time already a downtime, from 21 to 7 a.m. . But I bypass my own rule: I click on “ignore the limit”. I turn away from my goal, quarter of an hour after quarter of an hour. True to my Swot analysis. I still come back to this opportunity offered by my smartphone: use the technology itself to regain control. There are several apps. such as Freedom, Forest– which rewards the user with virtual plants – or Stay Focused which blocks certain apps. But I know myself: in good drug addict, I always find the way to get around. So I found it more radical: a real material blockage, we tested disconnect several days a physical barrier. I present to you Brick an app that selects apps and websites that the chip must lock. In my case: Insta. Facebook, Pinterest (I no longer count my paintings), Immoweb (Long History) and Outlook – in other words: my little perdition train that I launch mechanically as soon as my thumb touches the screen.

Material blocking

By approaching the phone of the Brick case, the apps and chosen sites are encrypted. If you still try to access it, a black screen appears: “This is a distraction”. The phone is blocked. if I really want to go on Insta, I have to travel physically again to the brick case to unlock my smartphone. In a way. Brick is part of the recommendations of Pr we tested disconnect several days dom: “Based on your Swot analysis, establish a plan for each day of the week, with very specific moments when you have the right to use your smartphone. The rest of the time, put it out of reach. Or I rely on Brick. But I’m a little ashamed, I should be able to get there on my own, right? “Everything is good, if that helps you,” retorts the psychiatrist. Perfect ! I must also hold a newspaper, where I write how it goes, and if I crack, which caused it.

The withdrawal phase

Brick does what the Antabuse drug does for alcoholics: cause a strong physical reaction in the event of consumption.

Choosing the moments when I allow myself – or not – touching on my smartphone, I find it difficult. I know myself, I will not stick we tested disconnect several days to it. Even if the morning rush should encourage me to do it: Ah, take the road on time and without stress … at work, I don’t want to indulge in nervous swipe. And at home, I would like to be focused on my family. This is why, at the beginning, I choose the scenario “all or nothing”. The first days, I tinker without interruption; My computer is the only authorized screen. It is rather confronting. because I cannot help but regularly activate my smartphone that has become useless, with its black screen (“distraction”). You imagine my frustration. The psychiatrist establishes an even more confronting comparison: “Brick does what the antabuse drug does for alcoholics: provoking a. strong physical reaction in the event of consumption. »»

All or nothing

So, I start to use my phone for other things. Uh, especially to scroll through my photos, in fact. we tested disconnect several days The strength of habit. I feel obliged to fix the screen in flat encephalogram mode. It’s not for nothing thatbrain rot Was not elected a word of 2024, isn’t it. Very quickly, I realize that it does not give me the same satisfaction. My smartphone is like an amputated member, and I have ghostly pain. I am embarrassed to say it, but everything becomes … a little boring. “These are theDopamine stimuli that you miss, ”explains the addictologue. When I decide to open Instagram on my computer, it’s disappointment: my consumption obviously has another predilection format.

My smartphone is like an amputated member, and I have ghostly pain.

As it is my birthday, I offer myself a day without Brick and with Instagram. Celebrating, it is also online nowadays. And even if the adorable messages touch me. the rest of the content depresses me a we tested disconnect several days little: suddenly, the absurdityFrom all this is obvious – the insignificant quantity, insignificance too. My feed is polluted by the news on the Daddy Puff affair. of which, I realize it afterwards, I prefer not to know the details. The next morning, I forget my brick box at home. I am a bird for digital cat: as before, I no longer let go of my screen. And that evening, I throw myself on Diddy, Cassie and everything else. Sigh.

Hours without

I decide to unlock Brick at three fixed moments on weekdays. which I tank with an alarm: from 8 a.m. to 8:15 a.m., from 12:45 p.m. to 1 p.m., and between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. this small daily hour seems reasonable to me. it allows me to stay informed and I can still post one or the other small contribution to social debates. Or talk a we tested disconnect several days bit about life, and my life. Because that too, it oppresses me: the idea of ​​disappearing from the conscience of my loved ones and less close. I have been on Instagram from the start, he and I, it’s a long story. After fifteen years of common life. the app seems to be inseparable from my person, she ended up being part of my identity. “And that’s the whole knot of the problem,” explains the Pr dom. Notre social lifeand therefore our identity, is now linked to networks. Anyway, I allow myself to post from time to time – a detox at the same time.

A new start?

An Instagram overdose later. I half reduced the 2,087 accounts followed – it could however be that I return to @Farine_Furniture. I respect Brick time slots. And then, given the limits of my “time budget”, I really watch out for what we tested disconnect several days I look at. I zap faster to focus on what is worth it. Which also helps me. because after fifteen years, the automatisms are famously anchored, is to put my phone locked out of reach, to really detach me from this brick that it has become. Suddenly. I just fix the void or turn my ring around my finger when I write an article and the words do not come. While waiting in front of school, I really listen to the radio. I look at hacks on Netflix without second screen. Happiness.

Our social life, and therefore our identity, is now linked to networks.

At least, when I manage to watch TV. Because often, I fall from fatigue. “It’s common,” confirms our addictologist. I observe it in consultation: at the beginning. there is a euphoria linked to the first stages of withdrawal, but once we tested disconnect several days this effect is dissipated, people feel a vacuumDuring the first weeks or months, and complain of fatigue. Come on, I keep hope. And besides, what do you know? I started to read! A great romanwhich precisely questions the possibility of leaving for zero. That’s good. I ask the question at Pr domwho confirms me that we can get out of thedependence. The time it takes is very variable, in general it is necessary to counttwo to three months. “See this time as an invitation to look for stimuli and more natural ways to concentrate your attention. Like reading. Or dig a swimming pool.

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