digital distraction & digital detox

Recently, I have seen that several websites are beginning to talk about two terms - digital distraction and digital detox. Both are related, and this is also associated with phones and Palm.

Digital distraction is a situation when you are always digitally distracted, something that has not been here before and came recently, with smartphones and application notifications. The silly phone just interrupted you with a loud ringing or a Morse tone with an SMS alert. Today, however, we have in smartphones dozens, hundreds of applications, and each one thinks that it is the most important thing and that you have to track it on your mobile. This results in you being ripped continuously out of your concentration by beeping messages and a blinking cell phone display.

Digital detox is often described as a rest from digital technologies in general. You just use all the courage, throw away your cell phone and go out without it, ideally on a deserted island outside of any known civilization or deep in a military area where there is no signal anyway, so even if you take your cell phone there, you could use that just for  taking a picture.

But the good news is that these two expressions are actually two counterparts, 2 extremes, and it is up to us to find our comfort zone somewhere in between. We can do this, for example, by determining which applications and notifications are critical to us, and only not allowing others on our phone.

But we can also say that our free time is so precious to us that we do not want any applications to bother us, or even anyone else by calling to us (you know different offers, surveys, etc.) and that is where Palm can help.

In fact, with Palm, you can simply switch off application notifications, incoming calls, by activating Life mode.  Most importantly, you can keep your big expensive phone at home and on exercise, running, cycling, or just walking with your loved ones taking a small and lightweight Palm, which you use only when you really want to, and not when someone else wants to.

And that’s the mission Palm company is trying to fill with its Palm phone.

Illustrations: Tim Bradford