Yet our reliance on technology to see the social world around us can be a heavy burden.
Even so, many would find the prospect of living offline worrisome, or simply impossible.
None of our participants used social media or had a mobile phone, and most even refused to email.
We wanted to understand why these people had decided to switch off, and how they managed it.
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Heres what our respondents said theyd learned, from living their social lives offline.
These interactions are channelled through the platform to create data, which is ultimately fed back todata brokersand marketers.
For them, this helped to maintain a feeling of human bonding and connection.
Taking the opportunity to switch off may, at first, cause some anxiety.
But the trick is to realise that switching off is not the same as missing out.
When you first switch off, you may spend more time in your own company.
Those who chose to disconnect are neither sad nor excluded.
Freed from the screen, they escaped from the overwhelming flows of information and tasks.
Their deep sense of connection with the world, and their loved ones, was clear to see.
This is crucial to helping usreset and relax, so that we are prepared for more stressful times.
Time spent scrolling through content may feel as though it makes light demands on body and mind.
But the visual interference from a bright screen is far from relaxing.
FOMO keeping you up at night?
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As mindfulness is becoming more popular, its core ideasare often cooptedby technology.
On Instagram, for example, successful influencers show off their yoga skills and promote spiritual disciplines.
Fitness trackers, health data and yoga apps consistentlyrank among the top appsdownloaded by smartphone users.
These disconnected people did not switch off to be anti-social.
They did so to take charge of when and where they connected with people.
