I feel a disdain for the term digital detox. In Syvertsen and Enli’s article ‘Digital detox: Media resistance and the promise of authenticity’ they note that ‘the digital detox trend is characterized by nostalgia’ (Syvertsen and Enli, 2020 pg 1270) connoting the days before smartphones, childhood and freedom.

And yet, I am not sympathetic to this idea. I feel that because the article excludes the idea that today’s young people have not experienced life before technology, or a life they remember. A peer of mine in class similarly said that speaking of detox is a frustrating waste of time. I suspect this may be a symptom of others using the ‘digital detox’ as a Band-Aid on the bullet wound that is society’s larger dependence on technology, making detox only a dream or marketing ploy.

To detox would also be to disrupt a system of connectivity that would be equally detrimental to young people. As ‘Digital Detox’ was added to the dictionary in 2013 (Syvertsen and Enli 2020), the term FOMO (fear of missing out) was also included. The push for digital detox almost seems out of touch in today’s communication landscape as to be without social media is to be on the fringe in 2023.

However, digital rebellion is in my mind different, and I resonated greatly with Nick Briz’s glitch art. It lacks that aura of consumerism that digital detox has and directly challenges technology without any social consequences. And it makes art. This is the angel I would take to form a new relationship with technology.

Included in an image of my involuntary digital detox and my glitch art.

~ 267 Words

 

References:
– Briz, N 2015, THOUGHTS ON GLITCH[ART]v2.0, Briz website, accessed 19 March 2023, <http://nickbriz.com/thoughtsonglitchart/>
– Syvertsen, T. and Enli, G 2019, ‘Digital detox: Media resistance and the promise of authenticity. Convergence’, The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 26(5-6), pg.1269–1283.

Bibliography:
– Buglass, S L et al, 2017 ‘Motivators of online vulnerability: The impact of social network site use and FOMO’, Computers in Human Behavior, 66 (1), pg 248-255
– Hodkinson C, 2019 ‘Fear of Missing Out’ (FOMO) marketing appeals: A conceptual model’, Journal of Marketing Communications, 25(1), pg 65-88,
– Kim, J et al, 2020, ‘Investigating ‘Fear of Missing Out’ (FOMO) as an extrinsic motive affecting sport event consumer’s behavioral intention and FOMO-driven consumption’s influence on intrinsic rewards, extrinsic rewards, and consumer satisfaction’, PLOS ONE, 15(12)