Just because it’s so easy to be constantly connected -- with our friends and family, with the news, and with endless flows of information -- doesn't mean that we should be.
David Roberts, a politics blogger at Grist.org, joined HuffPost Live host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani to discuss how being overwhelmed by constant attachment to his digital devices, email and social media led to his decision to unplug for a year.
“I had developed this sort of pattern where I was working... you know, I was sort of tied to a computer working all day,” Roberts said. “When I actually sat down to add it all up, it came to about, somewhere around 11 or 12, sometimes 13 hours a day that I was spending staring at screens. I don’t care what kind of activity it is, it’s not healthy to do anything that much.”
He realized that he was constantly suffering from a low-level anxiety because of his addiction to his multiple devices.
“If I went five or 10 minutes away from a device, my heart rate would rise, I would start getting antsy, I would start getting twitchy because I hadn’t gotten my little fix,” Roberts recalled. “I realize that left me carrying my phone everywhere I went -- into the bedroom, into the bathroom. I couldn’t [even] take a walk.”
To hear more of the conversation, watch the full HuffPost Live segment here.