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We just got back from 8 days sailing in the Whitsundays and all we can say is WOW! It was truly a dream come true (check out our video above). What made it even better was having a mandatory digital detox for most of it, since there wasn’t any reception. It literally had 8 nights on the water feel like 18. It made us recognise how much we let technology control us and how we have slipped into bad habits around constantly being connected.

We’re sure you can relate?! We bet that you take your phone with you to the bathroom, right? The real question is whether there is anywhere you don’t take your phone…It’s right next to you when you shower, isn’t it? Well you aren’t alone! In fact, a seven-country (US, UK, Brazil, China, Spain, Mexico and India) online smartphone habits survey of over 7000 people by Motorola found that 60% of participants slept holding their handsets. Now that’s next level…

A psychology lecturer from James Cook University has been researching how even though our technology overload may be increasing our brain’s processing speed, the downside is that it is also creating the impression that time is constantly racing by. So while the speed at which our pace of life is ever-increasing, our subjective feeling of available time is decreasing, and this causes us to feel an ongoing sense of time pressure. Sounds familiar, right? Well this can lead to an increase in time-stress which has been linked to heart disease, distress, and increased levels of depression…

Worse still with our tech obsession is that sounds and flashing lights are known to tap into our body’s threat detection system. So the constant beeping, buzzing, ringing, and pinging are like the ‘Pavlovian bell of the 21st Century’ which keeps us hooked incessantly to our devices. And as a result, our technology-overload is shown to be detrimental to our ability to focus on complex tasks. Moreover, Telefónica found in a survey last year that a third of Spaniards suffer from “techno-stress” and are at risk of developing a range of disorders such as eye conditions, anxiety, high-blood pressure and insomnia.

The bottom-line? Give yourself a digital detox for some good old analogue time every day. This daily unplugging will do wonders for your health and wellbeing!