Digital Detox in Social Media Platforms: An Experimental Research

When examining the place where social media usage has come in the last decade, it is not hard to see that this usage has become more widespread and has found itself in daily life. The habit of being “online”, which has become an indispensable part of human life, appears as a phenomenon of life. As a result of this phenomenon, most of the functional activities performed in daily life lose their effectiveness due to the online habit. While the habit of being online continues to be an addiction day by day, as a result of this addiction, the negative effects affecting human life appear in many behaviors that represent the concepts of emotional state and occupation. With the social media platforms used as a socialization tool, users want to take part in this virtual utopian world created and act in a sense of being constantly informed about the developments. Although they think that they have gained some gains as a result of their desire to be constantly informed about innovations and developments, continuous exposure brings along negativities. The experts, who emphasized that we are constantly trying to document instead of enjoying the best moments of our lives, also handled “detox”, a food metaphor, as “purification” from technology addiction. This study, which aims to show that life is not only about mobile phones and social media accounts, but also to raise awareness among individuals, was carried out with 15 students studying at the Communication and Design department of a foundation university. In this study, the participants were asked to close their social media accounts for a week and perform digital detox, and what they felt before and after this process and the changes that occurred / did not happen in their lives. The passwords of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts were asked from the participants and each participant s passwords on the relevant platforms were changed, thereby preventing them from accessing their accounts. The digital feeding tendencies of the participants were measured by applying pre-test / post-test. Afterwards, students were interviewed with questions about their acquisitions and experiences regarding addiction, occupation and emotional states during this period. The participants were determined on the basis of volunteering. “Informed Voluntary Consent Form” was given to each participant, and it was stated that their names and other personal data will remain confidential and will not be recorded and shared in any digital environment during and after the study. As the result of the interviews conducted within this context, refreshment and postive awareness in the subjects of efficiency, productivity and communication within family are aforementioned after digital detoxing. However, the awareness achieved could disappear because of the feelings of curiosity amd loneliness. And an indication of addiction develops stemming from individuals using social media platforms not being able to keep away from them.