There are numerous aspects of life in today’s society that require the use of technology. There are also things we can do without it, but people still use it anyway. I can’t begin to tell you how many times a day I’ve been on my phone looking at social media to see posts from family and friends, including the people whose videos I enjoy watching on YouTube every day. The YouTube aspect plays a huge role in my screen time, whether it’s on the phone or computer. Going all the way back to my middle school days, when I began following certain daily YouTubers who are still part of my life to this day, I must say that I’ve learned a lot from watching them. Even when I’m not actively using it, I still visit YouTube frequently to learn new things, as I’m a visual learner. However, there is a term called “detox,” which is actually a new word I learned this year. Believe it or not, detoxing from something can put your mind at ease, and after contemplating a bit, this week I detoxed from YouTube in its entirety for five days. 

How it All Went Down

Obviously, this wasn’t an easy task for me to accomplish, primarily because of my excessive screen time beforehand. The day before I started detoxing from YouTube, on Sept. 7, my screen time was above the daily average of about four hours and 40 minutes. However, I knew I was open to challenging myself a bit. I then began the detox by deleting the YouTube app from my phone on the morning of Sept. 8, right before leaving for work. Since then, until the evening of Sept. 12, my screen time has been below that daily average. 

Having said that, there were a couple of inspirations for me even to do this experiment. One of them has been the book I’m still currently reading –  “Stolen Focus” by Johann Hari. Chapter 6 of the book relates to digital detoxing. Hari argues that changing the environment we live in matters more than just temporarily detoxing. This is because, according to Hari, detoxing doesn’t address the broader picture of things, which changes everyone’s attention. More information about this topic can be found on the Stolen Focus website, including the section where he and Dr. James Williams discuss a deeper solution to the attention crisis. 

I can understand where Hari and Dr. Williams are coming from here. Yes, digital detoxing from something for a short time can be beneficial, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will help. When I detoxed from YouTube this week, I still couldn’t stop myself from checking my favorite YouTubers’ social media profiles to stay up-to-date with their lives and content. However, I got through this experiment by doing some of the things mentioned in a Medium article by Adi Kakarla, who also detoxed from YouTube and broke an addiction to the platform in the process.  I deleted the YouTube app from my phone and found other ways to keep my mind busy for the better. My data visualization can be seen below to get a clear understanding of how my screen time during this span compares to beforehand.

Overall, despite this experiment being a challenge, it’s worth doing and seeing where it all leads. In my case, I got through it by finding multiple ways to stay engaged with the lives of my favorite daily vloggers, as well as other methods of watching sports highlights and music videos. It’s always essential to have backup plans, because you never know when detoxing may be necessary.