Meaning
A planned break from phones, social media, and other screens for a defined period, intended to reduce stress and reset everyday technology habits. Neutral wellness vocabulary shared by lifestyle journalism, psychology research, and travel marketing; it implies concern about device dependence without treating it as clinical addiction. Neutral, mildly aspirational wellness register; occasionally mocked as a fad or marketing gimmick. Regional use: General English worldwide; strongest in wellness, education, and workplace contexts.
Origin
No individual coiner is documented; the phrase surfaced in early-2010s technology and lifestyle coverage as a natural blend of digital and detox. Its acceptance was marked in August 2013, when Oxford Dictionaries Online added it in the same update as selfie and twerking, defining it as time spent refraining from electronic devices to relieve stress or focus on face-to-face contact. Research interest grew sharply from about 2015 across communication, education, tourism, wellbeing, and workplace studies, and systematic reviews now treat it as a defined intervention; an early-2010s US survey had already found that roughly six in ten Facebook users had taken deliberate breaks of several weeks or more. Related coinages include digital sabbath, tech detox, and social media cleanse.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- digital cleanse
- digital sabbath
- social media detox
- tech detox
Usage Examples
- He does a weekend digital detox every month, with the phone locked in a drawer.
- The cabin rental markets itself as a digital detox retreat with no Wi-Fi at all.
- After months of notification overload, she booked a week-long digital detox.