There was a certain time I felt like I was becoming used to the act of performing, liking, posting, and responding. Every notification has this mix of a tiny wanting for attention, every story was a reminder that someone, was having life faster, seeming to be doing more, and being brighter than me.
I didn’t just hold my phone and scroll; I compared. I didn’t just feeling like posting; I performed every single time. And along the line, I soon got to know that I was not having a hold of myself in the midst of screens, in the constant busyness of someone else’s life.
So I thought to myself: what would it feel like to just step away? To close the apps, mute the noise, and just exist in the quiet of my own presence? That question became the beginning of a small, radical act, choosing presence over performance.
In a world where if an individual is “online” often means being “seen,” the line that cuts across real connection and performance has been blurred. Social media makes false promises about closeness but provides constant comparison and an unseen pressure to design the perfect life. Young adults are saying that the higher levels of stress and burnout — are not from a lack of gain, but from too much of weight all at once: attention, content, and expectation.
Digital detoxes are no longer just the experiments which are in vogue; they are deliberate interventions. Choosing to withdraw from the world isn’t only just about escaping the world — it’s more so about gaining oneself in the right mental space, and authentic relationships. In this pursuit, withdrawing from online life becomes a life changing choice, a quiet rebellion against the pace and pressures of constant connection.
More and more young adults are now getting to know that being always available and connected doesn’t really guarantee being fulfilled. There’s a forward movement toward presence that is intentional— slowing down, and creating the boundaries around the screens.
In my view, this isn’t just an individuals choice; it’s a silent cultural change. It’s about getting to know that mental clarity, and awareness of one self can’t succeed in the deliberate noise of likes, comments, and unending scrolling. Choosing a digital detox is a means to reclaiming the time, the focus, and one’s inner life which all mean that getting to prove that rest, and genuine connection are not luxuries, but rather are necessities.
Srishti, a 24 year old was a rising Instagram influencer. Her life, she felt, was on a moving track — which was filled with daily posts, and an unending need to keep up with the basic trends everyone seemed to be involved with. At first, it was exciting. Every notification was more so like a small victory. But as time went on, the pressure became rather too suffocating. Anxiety crept in, creativity felt hindered, and moments of genuine joy all became too hard to come by. Even her friendships started to distracted by distractions and comparisons which became draining.
Realizing that she wasn’t able to continue with this lifestyle of hers, Srishti decided to take a two-week digital detox. She deactivated her accounts, and intentionally disconnected from her online identity. At first, the silence felt all new and uncomfortable, even alarming there I say. She was confronted with the reality of boredom and a lingering fear of being behind.
But as time went on, something changed. Srishti, began documenting her thoughts without the need for public validation. She read books she had been keeping aside for years. She spent quality time with friends in , enjoying conversations rather than just spending time scrolling through her phone. The constant noise in the background around social media was rerouted by clarity, presence, and even all forms of creativity.
By the end of the two weeks, Srishti had long experienced a huge shift in everything she did. She realized that her sense of self-worth and identity had been tied to online performance rather than her own values and desires which she cherished and lived by. The digital detox didn’t just remove the stress — it made them realign her priorities and her inner peace. What’s more interesting, her experience was brought about by her followers when she later shared some things she had learnt in the course of her her time offline, conversations which were hyped around emotional well-being and mindful use of the internet.
Digital life has given us unlimited connectivity, yet it has also quietly refined what intimacy and real connection should feel like. In Srishti’s story, and countless others like hers, we see a barrier between “constant connection” and real emotional closeness. We are always scrolling, always performing — and in that, something important gets hindered.
From my own point of view, the problem isn’t only about technology — it’s how we let it make it our sense of self. True emotional closeness sees that we have the space and presence. It demands moments when phones are down, and attention is fully provided. Allowing oneself to step back in this digital world shows courage. It’s a conscious way of gaining one's identity and personal narrative
The digital world has brought us a whole lot of opportunities, yet it has also made the constant attention, energy, and identity. Stories like Srishti’s remind us that we do not have to let go of our well-being to connectivity. Sometimes, the bravest thing we can do is step back, and get our mental space back together, and allow relationships — and real intimacy — to thrive.
If we were able to learn anything from these experience is that it is this: true connection is never about being always active. It is about being fully human, and fully engaged — in the moments that matter the most.
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