Summary of the 2. Digital Detox Conference
Held on the 27. October 2022
Experts, Authors, Hoteliers, Coaches and Researchers took part in the second Digital Detox Conference on the 27th of October 2022. The idea was to enhance a network, to share ideas and to help each other.
Starting with eyeConnect (disconnect to reconnect) from Nini Fritz, who presented a new card game to enhance social connections in the real world, supported by the motto: „Connections stronger than Wi-Fi”. The card game consists of six different levels, from fast answers to more complex ones with a deeper meaning. A perfect start to get to know people better, and perfect warm up just for the conference.
Mario from unpluggo continued with his presentation about parenting in digital times. The fear of not having the smartphone close by is a common issue, causing the situations like sleeping next to the smartphone. It's concerning but it's also constantly rising. Especially young people coming from a structurally weak economic backgrounds are more likely to be affected. Mario explained his 3 – 6 – 9 – 12 approach. It suggests no screen time before 3pm, being digital active between 6 and 9pm and after that, spending time together without any additional screens. We shall rather use the technic, but we must track the consumption to prevent addicted behavior.
After Mario, Christian Hitzl from Digital-Detoxing introduced the scientific research from summer 2022. What motivates digital natives to do a digital detox was the first part of the research. Divided in positive and negative keywords, it was found that activating keywords are work-life-balance; wellbeing; better time usage and deeper connection with real people. Those are highly requested. On the other hand, no motivation is to prevent conflicts or becoming enlightened (for full report click HERE). The second part explained the business model of Digital-Detoxing, which supports digital detox businesses rather than competing with them. The idea is to build an additional distribution channel with Digital-Detoxing. To find out more about the partnership, please check our partnership webside.
The Co-founder of Unpluq is Tim Smits who created a startup with his Digital Detox App. The company from the Netherlands focuses on limiting distracting apps. With Unplug the user can choose individually the apps on their smartphones and to make the access more difficult by setting a blocking time or to be physically active, before accessing the App. Changing digital habits and becoming aware of the problem is the purpose of Tim and Unpluq. A free version is available for all Android phones. Soon, Tim says, the Apple version will be available as well.
The last speaker was Eric from DigiPause. His aim is the connection of Hotels and Digital Detox. It is about promoting Events and Workshops to encourage people to spend less time online while being on holiday. Full article on the connection between hoteliers and the concept of digital detox can be found here. The main message is to create hotels of the future, which centralize the needs of the guests.
Summary of the 1. Digital Detox Conference
Held on the 5th of May 2022.
“What is your most favorite Ice-Cream flavor?” – With this Question, Nini Fritz opened the 1st Digital Detox Conference by starting with a game invented by herself. A total of 20 digital detox experts (Coaches, Speakers, Authors, Podcasters, Organizations, etc.), from 13 different countries, participated in the event. Thanks to Nini the group of digital detox experts could get to know each other better and were able to talk to each other freely. She is the founder of iConnect– Make Connections Stronger Than Wifi and she talked about her super fun game and about her background story. Her approach helps remote teams to build stronger bonds and to start communicating stronger together.
Eric, as the second speaker at the digital detox conference, shared his thoughts on DigiPause. With his project, he wants to connect Worklife with the aspect of Wellness and the Travel Industry. Located in Portugal, Eric explained how DigiPause and wellness by design propose a more realistic and accessible version of digital detox for travelers and hoteliers, as he has seen little to no effort from Hoteliers to adopt the needs of hotel guests. His idea is to add a new way of experience to the travel industry, as the need for digital wellness exists and the expectations have changed, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Christine Wittoeck from Belgium, an expert on the topic since 2013 introduced herself to the group as well. After using the digital advantages in the early phase, she shared her experience and the importance of communication. She was a happy person, stunned by all the possibilities with the internet, but she has observed a shift from face-to-face communication to a more virtual conversation. Since the beginning, her mission is to improve people’s communication and by that to save the most important: Your Time!
“What motivates people to do a Digital Detox?” – A more scientific background was presented by Christian who introduced his master´s thesis survey, The project is being carried out at the Technical University of Weiden in Germany. Taking the 6 dimensions of Wellness, Christian is trying to understand what are the needs and motives of people, especially digital natives. This digital detox survey is supported by us from Digital-Detoxing.com and you can fill out the form by end of August 2022 🡪 Please follow the link here. As suggested by Oluwatosin, a digital wellness educator from Nigeria, people need to understand one thing better: Lonely because of spending time online or spending time online because you are lonely. A better understanding of this cause and effect needs more consciousness when talking about digital addiction.
In the second half, Dr. Maegen Renee and Francois Braine-Bonnaire talked about social media and the effect of addiction. Dr. Maegen, Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision, focused on the effects of social media and the relationships within each one’s family: “It’s not only important who we are now, it’s also important to know who we are in the future”. The fight against anxiety and depression is a rising fact that needs more awareness and a better connection to the use of social media. In addition, Carl, from Digital Health Mentor, mentioned the power of doing something practical, which can increase kids’ attention. The understanding of focusing and concentration will be future issues to tackle, especially for teenagers. To check their offer a bit closer, feel free to click here.
The status of Digital-Detoxing was presented by Magdalena. The new approach to social media and content creation is being part of the Media Plan for this year. The overall goal is to enhance the awareness, but also to lead people to suppliers in the future. With this understanding, Digital-Detoxing Team wants to help digital detox suppliers to find new clients, collect as much information as possible, and present that information in a modern way. That is the main goal to achieve: helping people by creating awareness and providing solutions at the same time.
“When you start doing something very different from others, you will start being aware.” – Stacey Mckinna from Winkchronicity shared her thoughts. Such an inspiring journey she is still doing in her life. Her thoughts on creating and living a life with almost no technology is a unique story and explain the importance of focusing on things. If trying to conclude her very special mission, then it is to start dreaming more. Kind of a You can Do It atmosphere.
A very exciting response was made by Colin, the Digital Detox guru from the UK. His answer to the question: Why are people not doing digital detox more? was simply that it is not painful enough. According to him, it is a fact that the awareness of digital overconsumption is still in the early phase. Hence, when the temporal renunciation of digital media becomes an insurmountable challenge, that will be the moment that people feel the pain and understand the importance of digital detox more. But it is important to understand the overall issue, which always includes various facts. Not forgetting this correlation between different factors and including them within a session is necessary to fight and fully understand individual needs.
The third part was set up for open Questions&Answers and many subjects were hotly discussed. Monika Schmiederer, a Coach, Speaker, and Author from Austria, confirmed what Colin was saying before. People are aware of the harm internet use can bring with it, but at the same time, missing scientific studies are needed. She mentioned the missing part of the different effects on the brain when exceeding screen time. Pointing out the positive effects and proving the advantage of doing a digital detox, alone or with external help, could be one thing to attract more people.
A very exciting approach came from Jonas Uchenna, Berlin/Germany. He self describes himself as a former gamer with a penchant for addiction – and this feeling still exists within him. Uchenna was telling that sharing own experience, own feelings and to understand what people are going through, helped him a lot in the business. Showing empathy and not judging is his idea of powerful coaching, which he provides with his company.
digital detox conference
The first-ever Digital Detox Conference was a great space to connect, exchange thoughts, and gain knowledge on the topic of Digital Detox. Hereby, the Digital Detoxing Team wanted to thank all participants for sharing their experiences and participating. The approach is simple: Louder together! – We need to create awareness and a group of people can do it better, than a single person. Questions regarding this subject can be sent to info (at) digital-detoxing.com or via Instagram. It was the first Conference, but certainly not the last.
Additional thanks go to:
Julie Christin Boenig from Germany
Aikatrini Pegka from Germany
Alistair from Picking at Perfection from the UK
Coco Brac de la Perriére from France
Karine Galland from France
Linda from Digital Bilden