Japanese embracing digital detox

One of the side effects of social media's omnipresence is so-called Net addiction. In response, some people are making a conscious effort to take a break from the digital world.

"Digital fasting" — an attempt to stay off the Internet for a set time — first became a trend in the United States and elsewhere a few years ago. Also known as "digital detox," the idea is now catching on in Japan.

Koji Takanashi, 32, works for Allied Architects, Inc., an Internet-related company in Tokyo. Since last year, he's been Net fasting on weekends. He often goes to the seaside not far from Tokyo with a colleague.

In late July, he went to a deserted island in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, where he gave stand-up paddleboarding a try. His job keeps him glued to a computer on weekdays. "That's why I try to spend my weekends in nature," he said.

Koji Takanashi on his paddleboard- Photo: Yomiuri Shimbun

Immersed in a whole new environment, he comes up with new, effective ideas for work, Takanashi said.

Other people start their digital detox when they begin raising children. Ryuka Okubo, a company employee in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, stopped opening her laptop on weekends last year when she returned to work from maternity leave. When she takes her infant son out for a walk, she sometimes leaves her smartphone at home.

"I have closer relationship with my child [without my smartphone around]. It's a breath of fresh air," Okubo, 29, said.

The ubiquity of digital media makes it easier to make social connections — but at the cost of feeling bound to those connections at all times. Moreover, because such media are an incomplete substitute for face-to-face communication, people can develop fatigue or stress from use.

According to a study conducted last year by Tokyo-based Neo Marketing, about 30 percent of respondents in their 30s say they need a vacation from social media. Among those in their 20s, the figure was 40 percent. The results reflect widespread fatigue from digital lifestyles.

In November, a 45-year-old company employee took a six-day, five-night vacation to the Kansai region's Ise and Shima areas. During the trip, he unplugged from the Internet and switched off his smartphone. In his spare time, he re-read some of his favorite novels.

The man said he ordinarily spends every single day entangled in a wired lifestyle, whether sending e-mails from a company computer or connecting to social networks via smartphone after work.

"I've gotten tired of this suffocating lifestyle where it's impossible to get away from the Internet," he said. "On my recent trip, I relaxed and enjoyed myself in a way that I hadn't in years."