Digital Detoxing: 65% of people feel the need to switch off

In a backlash against the trend of being constantly logged on to the internet, 65% of people would like to take time away from the internet.

In today’s world, almost everyone has a digital footprint – 88% of the population uses the internet, and 99% of adults aged between 16 and 24 years are recent internet users[1]. However there has been a retaliation against the almost constant use of smartphones and digital devices. Cartridgesave has looked at the trend of “digital detoxing”, and discovered that 65% of people have admitted that they need time away from the internet.

The company asked 1026 people in the UK what offline hobbies they enjoyed most: 49% chose baking as their number one past time; 40% of people chose gardening as a favourite, with this number rising to 60% in the over 55s. Other responses included arts & crafts, sewing and upcycling furniture.

One past time that came up frequently, in the 18 to 34 age group especially, was journalling. 10% of people in this group answered that they enjoy spending time away from the computer screen writing with the good old fashioned pen and paper, mirroring the recent trend for bullet journalling that’s swept the internet, also known as #BuJo.

Bullet journalling is an organisation system using a journal or notebook rather than an app on your phone or a calendar. It can incorporate to-do lists, your diary, planner and calendar, notes, sketches and “progress pages” such as what you’ve recently read or watched, fitness progress, finances and more, despite the fact that these can all be done digitally on a phone. These are all laid out in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and unique to the user so that it works specifically for their needs.

Cartridge Save asked a number of bloggers who enjoy taking time off from their constantly connected lifestyle and writing a journal by hand what it is that they find appealing about it:

Journalling allows me to connect pen with paper; it is tangible. I can feel what I am writing and commit to in a way I just don’t when I type. It gives me space to pause…I often type mindlessly. Journalling is less easy to erase and I am not distracted by social media, just totally focussed on what I am doing. It is purposeful.
– Becky Goddard-Hill, A Beautiful Space

I find myself online now more than ever, so keeping a journal has become a great release for me and an essential part of my week…it’s become a wonderful creative outlet enabling me to express myself, exploring who I am, and who I want to be.
– Thea Price, Thea’s Thinkings

I love the fact that you can use the journal for everything – ideas, inspirations, brainstorming blog posts, and obviously as a weekly planner so everything is one convenient place. I find it so much more useful than saving ideas to my phone and then not being able to remember where! 
– Victoria Davies, Snappable Musings

Speaking about the study, Ian Cowley, Managing Director of Cartridge Save says, “We can definitely understand the need to switch off from technology and pick up a book, a pen or even a needle and thread and do something offline. From our results, it seems like there’s been a backlash against the immediacy of phones and always being reachable today – people want to take a break every so often.” He continues, “The ease and convenience of everything being online nowadays means that the old arts feel like they’re getting forgotten, so it’s great to see that people are still going back to the good old fashioned ink pen and paper as well as typing out their thoughts on computers. It’s the combination of both that seems to make people happy.”

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