According to the Census, 95% of U.S. households have at least one type of computer and 90% have a broadband internet subscription. Moreover, 90% of U.S. households have a smartphone with internet access compared to a desktop or laptop computer. The prevalence of internet access and smartphones in the home speaks to the impact digital technology has had on how people experience everyday life. Therefore, addressing digital addiction and the need for a digital detox is of particular importance in recovery.
At The Guest House, we recognize that there is often an underlying cause or trigger for addiction and mental health disorders. Trauma is often at the root of substance addiction, process addiction, and other mental health disorders. When left unaddressed, trauma can impair your physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Being overwhelmed by distress makes you vulnerable to unhealthy coping strategies and self-defeating behaviors like substance misuse and process addictions.
Yet, how can digital detox heal trauma and other challenges? Addiction and recovery are complex in development and healing, but with awareness and understanding, recovery is possible.
What Is Digital Addiction?
The Internet and other digital-based technologies have become an important part of how people live, work, and learn. Digital technologies are interconnected to in-person and online schooling, remote work, streaming services, dating apps, and content-sharing platforms. Therefore, it can be difficult to recognize the difference between regular digital usage and digital addiction. Moreover, there is no definitive definition of digital addiction as it has only recently been recognized as a worldwide issue. Although there is no specific definition for digital addiction, you can look at the behaviors and impairments attached to the frequency of use.
As noted in the Journal of Education and Health Promotion, digital addiction or internet addiction typically refers to the questionable or compulsive use of the internet and related digital technologies. Further, digital addiction highlights substantial impairment in your functioning across different life domains over a prolonged period. Challenges with digital addiction can lead to a variety of impairments to daily functioning, school and work performance, relationships, physical health, and psychological well-being. Thus, the various domains in which digital addiction can impede wellness speak to the importance of digital detox for healing.
Further, challenges with digital addiction and the need for digital detox can be tied to addiction substitution. As noted in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, between 7% and 92% of individuals substitute their addiction during and or post-treatment. Yet, what are substituting or replacement addictions and how do they connect to digital addiction and digital detox? According to the Journal of Behavioral Addictions, substitute addictions are the immediate or gradual replacement of one addictive behavior by another.
Moreover, replacing a primary addiction with another can be either or both another substance or behavior. For example, you may replace prescription opioids with heroin or alcohol with food. The many combinations in which substituting addiction can occur highlight the significance of digital addiction and digital detox in substance use disorder (SUD). Listed below are some common substitute behaviors:
- Love addiction
- Sex addiction
- Caffeine
- Food-related behaviors
- Compulsive exercise
- Self-harm
- Excessive work
- Video game addiction
- Compulsive shopping
- Digital addiction
The word addiction has been commonly connected to the internet and digital technology. It can be understandably difficult to view digital addiction and digital detox in the same light as substance abuse. You may question how digital addiction and SUD can exist in the same sphere of concern.
Some may even question if digital addiction is a real thing. Much like compulsive shopping and gaming, digital addiction is a process addiction. Process addictions often get overlooked as a source of harm to well-being. Thus, expanding your awareness of digital addiction can support digital detox and healing SUD and process addictions.
The Importance of Digital Detox for Well-Being
According to another article from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, digital technology is considered a new powerful drug. Some of the ways digital addiction has impacted the well-being of people include:
- Social withdrawal
- Loneliness
- Isolation
- Co-occurring mental health disorders
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- SUD
- Suicidal ideation
- Poor nutrition
- Sleep deprivation
- Low energy
- Decreased motivation
- Poor time management and balance
- Low attention and memory
Yet, what leads to digital addiction and the need for digital detox? There are a few different components that can contribute to the development of digital addiction. One of the risk factors for digital addiction that makes it comparable to substance-based addiction is brain changes. Similarly to substance use, process addictions like digital addiction trigger neurochemical processes that impact your brain’s reward centers. Engaging in digital technologies like the Internet and social media use can significantly alter the way your brain functions and manages impulses.
Thus, internet addiction and digital addiction become an impulse control issue tied to a sense of excitement in reward circuitry. As noted in Frontiers in Psychiatry, reward processing is an important feature of functioning that impacts daily life, as well as behavioral and cognitive processes. Together impaired reward processing and impulsivity increase the desire or craving to engage in the compulsive behavior. For example, getting likes on a post feels good, which increases your desire to feel the same instant gratification over and over again. Furthermore, with instant gratification in mind digital detox has become paramount to addressing digital addiction due to the accessibility of digital technologies.
Access to a wider variety of information and diverse people can be beneficial for fostering empathy and growth. However, near-instant access to digital technologies creates an unhealthy environment where you can easily use digital technologies almost any day and time. Moreover, you have instant access to almost anything you want to consume like games, social media, shopping, and sex. Thus, a digital detox is a great healing tool for addressing digital addiction. However, what is a digital detox?
As noted by Cureus, a digital detox is the purposeful disconnection from devices like smartphones and or social media for a defined time. There is no specific duration of time you need adhered to or other rules since every individual’s needs are different. Everyone’s challenges with digital addiction are unique to them, so a digital detox should be tailored to the individual.
For instance, some people may face more challenges with excessively playing video games rather than doomscrolling on social media. Thus, how you engage in a digital detox and for how long will be unique to you and your experiences. In some cases, people may engage in digital detox for a few days or months and others may seek to remove a particular device or media from their life indefinitely.
Listed below are some of the things you may include in your digital detox based on your challenges:
- Constantly checking social media
- Excessive use of devices
- Frequent messaging
- Constantly checking emails and or Slack messages
- Playing video games
- Binge-watching television, film, and videos online
- Excessively watching and reading news coverage
Building a digital detox plan in combination with your treatment program can support your long-term healing. In particular, a digital detox can support healing in a variety of areas of health and well-being. Some of the wellness benefits of a digital detox include:
- Helps reduce stress and the fear of missing out (FOMO)
- Information overload, highlight reels of others’ lives, and FOMO can be overwhelming
- Improves ability to focus
- Constant notification sounds and pop-ups can make it difficult to concentrate
- Supports social interactions and relationships
- Focusing on social media can distract you from interacting with loved ones in the real world
- Improves time management
- Scrolling on social media can make you lose track of time and lead you to ignore or miss out on other things in your life
- Supports building and maintaining a healthy work and life balance
- Ease of access to digital technologies and media can impede your ability to leave work at work when you are at home, on vacation, or off for the holidays
- Improves your sleep routine
- Using devices before bed can decrease the quality of your rest
- Fosters a more positive outlook on your life and the world
- Constantly seeing curated images and videos of other people’s lives can make you feel like you are missing out and or that your life is less full, exciting, and meaningful
- Frequent exposure to everyone’s highlight reel of their lives and idealized body images can lead you to constantly compare yourself to others
- Constantly comparing yourself to others steals your joy and contentment with your life
- Improves overall mental health and challenges with mental health disorders
- Frequent use of digital technologies can increase symptoms of depression, anxiety, and ADHD
Trying to reduce or eliminate your dependence of digital devices and media is understandably daunting. Listed below are some of the ways you can engage in a digital detox in your daily life:
- Reflect on your biggest digital technology issues
- Scrolling on social media for hours before bed
- Be realistic about time and what you can remove
- Completely disconnecting from work and school during the week may not be feasible
- Set limits on digital technologies you cannot fully disconnect from in your daily life
- Put your phone away during meals
- No social media 30 minutes before bedtime
- Turn off work Slack notifications at the end of the work day and on the weekend
- Create specific goals to help you maintain healthy digital technology use after your digital detox
- Make Sundays a no-devices day
- Lean on your loved ones for support
- Share your goals
- Ask to help hold you accountable
Finding ways to limit digital technologies in your daily life is valuable to your overall well-being. However, difficulties with co-occurring trauma, SUD, and other mental health disorders can make addressing SUD and digital addiction more challenging. When people talk about unplugging or disconnecting from devices and media, getting out in nature is often mentioned. Therefore, with support in a holistic treatment program, you can support healing co-occurring conditions with nature-based therapeutic modalities.
Healing Trauma and Digital Addiction With Nature-Based Modalities
Combining digital detox with nature-based therapies can be a powerful combination for healing and recovery. According to the Journal of Clinical Psychology, nature exposure offers physical and psychological benefits for humans. Many of the benefits of nature exposure include:
- Decreased blood pressure
- Improved immune system
- Increased physical activity
- Decreased attention fatigue
- Reduced stress
- Improved stress management
- Reduced mental health symptoms
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Increased self-reflection and self-regulation
- Improved self-esteem and motivation
- Promotion of self-acceptance and self-love
The benefits of nature exposure stem from human’s intimate and innate connection with nature. Nature is an ancient tool well ingrained in human life and culture as a source of restoration and healing. Through a sense of connectedness in nature, you are reminded that you are part of nature and it is a part of you. Thus, great healing can be found and fostered in nature-based therapies.
As stated in another article from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, nature-based therapy is a biopsychosocial approach to support recovery in mind, body, and spirit. Nature-based therapies are typically located and conducted outdoors to make the natural environment accessible to support a sense of freedom, meaning, peace, and security in a safe space for recovery. Some of the nature-based therapies offered at The Guest House to support healing SUD, digital addiction, and other mental health conditions include equine and adventure therapy.
Equine therapy is defined as the therapeutic use of horses to support well-being in recovery. Thus, equine therapy is a broad term for a therapeutic modality that can incorporate multiple modalities like therapeutic horseback riding. However, at its root healing is fostered through a non-verbal connection in equine therapy. You form both a physical and emotional bond with your companion horse to create a therapeutic alliance. Through the therapeutic alliance, the trust in yourself and the world you lost to trauma can be restored. Thus, a comforting and affectionate relationship with horses can help restore your connection to the self, others, and nature.
Further, adventure therapy can also be a powerful therapy for recovery from co-occurring conditions. Adventure therapy is typically a set of programs or services that use outdoor activities and experiential learning exercises to cope with psychological distress. Some of the outdoor activities and exercises that can be found in adventure therapy include rope courses and hiking. Through nature-based activities in adventure therapy, you can foster self-efficacy and social connection to the self and others to heal.
The connection to nature and the self in equine and adventure therapy speaks to the power of whole-person healing. Your body and mind are intrinsically connected to the world. Further, intrinsic connection and healing are born out of supporting the whole of your parts in mind, body, and spirit. Thus, support healing your interconnected nervous system is invaluable to long-term recovery.
Resetting Your Nervous System With Nature and Digital Detox
Your nervous system and your overall well-being is greatly impacted by trauma stuck in the mind and body. Trauma can leave you stuck in survival mode in which your body is convinced you are being threatened even when you are not. Thus, getting stuck in the fight-or-flight response causes your nervous system to overact. When your nervous system is overstimulated it can feel difficult or impossible to respond to stressors effectively. However, engaging in digital detox can give you the time and space to seek out healing in nature.
By spending time in nature, you can help calm your nervous system to heal co-occurring conditions. As pointed out in another article from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, exposure to green space can help promote stress recovery and resilience to stress. Resilience from the stressors of trauma, SUD, digital addiction, and other co-occurring conditions is made possible by buffering your physiological response to future stressors. Thus, through exposure to nature, relaxation is triggered to help calm the nervous system and reinforce your ability to adapt to stressors. The power of nature-based therapies and digital detox highlights the value of a holistic approach to treatment for healing the whole person.
Fostering Connection Through Digital Detox and Nature and the Guest House
At The Guest House, we champion a holistic approach to addiction treatment because addiction and recovery are unique to each individual. Moreover, we recognize that co-occurring conditions can complicate the way each person experiences addiction. Thus, a holistic approach to treatment provides space to build a tailored treatment program to support long-term recovery.
We are here to meet you where you are on your recovery journey rather than forcing you into a one-size-fits-all box. Therefore, we provide a multidimensional and personalized treatment model in which you have access to a wide variety of therapeutic modalities. With holistic support, you have the space and safety to explore various therapies and modalities like adventure and equine therapy in a trauma-specific program.
Addiction is a complex and unique experience for each person. Thus, co-occurring challenges like trauma, SUD, digital addiction, and other mental health conditions can complicate treatment and recovery. However, with holistic whole-person care, you have access to a wide range of therapeutic tools to heal co-occurring conditions. Through holistic care, you can access nature-based therapies like equine and adventure therapy. Moreover, a comprehensive and holistic approach to care also provides support for process addictions like internet addiction and thus insight into digital detox for long-term recovery. Therefore, at The Guest House, we recognize that addiction is more than substance use, but rather rooted in trauma that can contribute to poor physical and psychological well-being. Call us at (855) 483-7800 today.