I asked ten people I know if they could complete a five-day digital detox. The rules were simple: spend five consecutive days abstaining from your most-used digital platform. Only three of them said they could.
So, last week, I spent five days detoxing from TikTok in the pursuit of better understanding my relationship with social media, scrolling, and deep focus.
The Experiment
The experiment consisted of recording numerical data through screen time tracking methods and noticeable mood changes, sleep score levels, changes in focus, and overall results from my TikTok abstinence. But before I began this experiment, I needed to collect baseline data for comparison. Before the detox, my daily average time spent on TikTok was 1 hour and 37 minutes a day with an overall average screen time of 4 hours and 56 minutes a day. Harmony Healthcare It reports that the average American spends 5 hours and 16 minutes a day on their phones. Scarily enough, I was right on target with the average person, so my experience and results may be relatable for most.
I wish I could say my experiment had gone perfectly, but by the first morning I had already relapsed. I instinctively opened TikTok as part of my routine morning scroll. It took 46 seconds to realize what I was doing before closing the app. Now imagine if that had been a life or death situation. If it took me 46 entire seconds to process what I was doing, would I have lived to scroll another day?
What I Noticed
As the days passed the detox felt easier. I was experiencing less impulses to scroll and feeling more mental clarity. I paid greater attention to the time I spent on social media and I began noticing the world around me more clearly.
Everyone was always on their phone.
Waiting in line, scrolling. Eating lunch with friends, scrolling. Walking to the car, scrolling. Eyes were constantly glued to phones. If an entire circus had passed by, making no noise, no one would notice.
I’m not oblivious or in denial. I know we’re experiencing a collective digital addiction that is killing our ability to socialize, create, and think, core parts of our humanity. I just didn’t realize how much I fed into it.
Reclaiming Our Attention
We value fast, dynamic, endless content in a constant stream tailored perfectly to our interests. Social media responds by building platforms and customizing features to capture, and keep, our attention.
When did we begin to value short form content more, and was it actually our choice?
A key argument in Johann Hari’s book, Stolen Focus, is that it’s not necessarily our fault, a theme I keep returning to. The minds running Silicon Valley are hijacking our attention for profit. These companies intentionally design apps, content, and features to keep you looking for what’s next. “It’s not your fault you can’t focus. It’s by design. Your distraction is their fuel.”
Your inability to put down the phone isn’t simply because you aren’t disciplined. Social media is designed to capture your attention, and with each scroll of a finger, a Silicon Valley designer gets another dollar in their pocket.
Data Insights:
Let’s back track for a moment. The baseline data collected tells a lot:
1 hour and 37 minutes spent scrolling on TikTok.
That’s:
- 97 minutes every day
- 48.5 hours every month
- 582 hours a year
- 24.25 days a year
That’s horrifying.
Nearly an entire month of every year I’ve spent watching 15 second videos that I can’t even remember the next day. The worst part is that I wasn’t actively choosing to give TikTok that much of my time, I just got pulled in and couldn’t escape, a feeling many of us can relate to.
Liz Leatrice, author of The Year Is 2063, and You Were Never Interesting, reminds us: “You have a portal in your pocket full of apps that are designed within an inch of their lives to take the best of you – your attention, your ability to focus, your time.”
We are wasting away our lives. We have to break the cycle.
Make A Change
What these digital designers don’t want you to know is that you can reclaim your focus.
It starts by implementing just one change.
Set screen-time restrictions or reminders that prompt you to think about how you are choosing to spend your free time. Do a digital detox for a day, a week, or a month. Practice screen-less activities, things that require you to think and use your hands.
In the end, my detox wasn’t perfect. I slipped up, I redirected free time to Instagram, and I continued to struggle with focusing and reclaiming my attention. What I took away from this experience is I implemented a change. I removed TikTok for a week to reconnect with deep focus and ended feeling positive on how to use the app for entertainment and enjoyment, all in moderation.
Liz Leatrice said, “Your feed was so full of people living lives so full you never stopped to consider yours.”
Take a step back from social media, examine your screen time, and implement a change. Take a pottery class, cook that recipe you’ve ignored for six months, or reconnect with an old friend over coffee. Because when you stop watching everyone else’s lives you start living your own.
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