INTRODUCTION:

Mobile phone today has become important than any other thing in the world. People are stick to it twenty-four hours. No matter what gathering personal, political, religious or social, masses are always on their phones. A normal usual routine day starts with scrolling on phone and ends with it, free time at office, or resting time at home, these toys have fans from kids to olds. But given a thought are we moving in the right direction, is it safe for us, the radiation, disturbed physical and mental health and above all the negative energy we are imbibing on a daily basis.

Kids don’t eat their breakfast without phone, people can’t go to offices without it, and needless to say the casualities happen during making of reels, shorts and selfies. The concept of digital fasting explains that it is time for us to sit back and think that are we loosing ourselves to such devices forever.

It has been reported to be 1.2 billion internet users upto year 2023 in India. Social media use continues to grow too, with global users reaching 60% percent of the world population upto year 2022. A research study done by Warda, Nwakibu and nourbaksha in 2023 revealed in their research study an outbreak of newer set of musculoskeletal symptoms among children and young adult due to excess use of cell phones.¹A research done in Dhaka city upon the impact of smart phones on life revealed that overuse of mobile devices disturbs their personal life.²Daily use of social media among two thirds of 15–17-year-olds has caused a sudden increase in the rates of depression, anxiety and self-harm in the United States and the United Kingdom around 2012 or 2013.³

Reduced productivity both at the academic and professional work front are seen with excessive Internet and electronic devices use due to high impulsivity, low self-esteem, introversion and poor decision-making.⁴ Six to eleven percent of the global population has internet addiction and symptoms like attention problems, mood changes with ADHD among 18-70yrs online gamers.Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram, are causing social isolations and increased mortality among ninety percent of young adults a 2014 meta-analysis revealed. It has been associated with poorer language development and executive functioning in very young children, and higher risk of Alzheimer disease in adults.⁵RF radiation has been found to be carcinogenic by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) with increased risk for head and brain tumours in children and adolescents due to a prolonged use.⁶

Over-exaggerated advertisements of happy hours ,family time with fast and junk food on internet results in undue weight gain. Late night movies and scrolling and chatting on media provides a disturbed sleep pattern especially to youngsters resulting in a less intelligent brain with delayed responses Excess internet use effects the brain both structurally and functionally. Parents should enrich the child's environment with social, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral stimuli.The emphasis should be on creating a life with more human interaction and less dependence on digital devices, thus preventing the harmful effects of using digital devices.⁷ Recommendations from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are given for children and young adults such as eye breaks, safer use of headphones/earbuds, ergonomics and lighting, and screen time limits or a balance of screen and non-screen learning tasks data.⁸

Digital harm today is threatening Individual dignity and societal well-being .Social media focuses purely on monetary gains rather than any creative responsibility for good. (Horwitz 2021); cryptocurrencies cybercrime like Bitcoin and Ether are duping innocent people of their hard-earned money.(Braaten & Vaughn 2021.⁹Poor school performance and concentration as a result of blue light exposure, disturbs melatonin production resulting in sleep pattern fluctuations and overall development problems. Prolong use of ear –phones can cause long-term hearing morbidity. Cyberbullying and trolling’causes anxiety and depression to victims. Cyberchondria’ causes misinformation without health literacy resulting in inappropriate medical expectations.¹⁰Online exploitation via non consensual intimate image distribution allows manipulation abuse and self-harm. among children and young adults.¹¹To stop this nuisance monitor watch group have been employed for online safety and removing disturbing online content by the UK government additionally adding laws and guidance for police and professionals. For parents and carers some online sites provides information e.g. NSPCC resource ‘Keeping Children Safe Online’.¹⁰

Digital fasting can be a game changer in shaping our next generation when parents and grandparents have sufficient time to sit back with the kids and tell them storiea, experiences and sanskaras they always required for character building and growing with positive attitude, simultaneously bridging the generatioj gap. so that young generation ismore aware and concerned not only about theur desires but also aboit the needs of their parents. The lost respect can be regained back. A lot of communication problems can be solved where children feel shy to talk about to to their parents. Parents siblings can helpin homework, learning a bicycle, playing badminton or making aware about age related issues.. Our young generation has lot of doubts and questions which are never answered by anyone. The digital detox time is best one for a discussion. learning anew art, or opening up tosomething we never imagibned the child needed.

CONCLUSIONS:

The application of digital fasting or digital detox is an idea that has to be emphasized as a good home routine by people taking self-initiative for their own welfare by fixing a time in the evening suitable for all. Now we can see that we have lot of time, kids can play, go to the park, adults can meditate or do yoga exercise, it becomes a time of that good old days, a time of playing indoor games like ludo and carrom or writing and reading story books, holy books, visiting temples in the evening, worshipping rituals or a time of cooking nice evening snacks recipes and indulging in self-care routines which we stopped long time ago. Nature lovers can do Gardening, planting, while musc and writing are other options. The idea is to make ourselves available not only to us but our loved ones by talking, responding and asking, helping, listening and engaging with society. Family gathering will not provide time for solving problems and emotional support but also an opportunity to know and help your neighbour to stay away from social isolation. Plannings can be done for Health check-ups, family picnics and holidays. Finally digital fasting provides an opportunity for quality and laughter time with family.

What benefits digital fasting will bring to us:

· More awareness to self and others

· More quality time with family and friends

· Time for mental relaxation.

· Improved concentration

· Less stress to mind and strain to eyes

· A break from all the negative news and things happening around.

· Breaking down the chain of addition

· A well-lived life

· More positivity in life.

· Lets you connect with yourself.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

None.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

My deepest thanks to Ms. Amali Mery mam, Professor Mental Health Department, Ms Mamta Bisht Assistant Professor, Shri Swami Bhumanand College of Nursing Haridwar for peer review of this short communication.

REFERENCES:

1. Pandey R. S, Vaishnav S R. Increasing Exposure of Digital Devices and Its Impact on Physiological and Psychological Development Among Children: A Systematic Review of Prospective Studies. International Journal of Membrane Science and Technology. 2023; 10(4): 2400-2407 DOI:10.15379/ijmst.v10i4.3445

2. Mushroor S et al. The impact of smart phones and mobile devices on human health and life. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2020; Jan7(1): 9-15 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20195825.

3. Haidt J. A guilty verdict Forum: Mental health Digital technology under scrutiny.

4. Public Health Implications of Excessive Use of the Internet, Computers, Smartphones and Similar Electronic Devices Meeting report Main Meeting Hall, Foundation for Promotion of Cancer Research National Cancer Research Centre, Tokyo, Japan 27-29 August 2014

5. W. Small GJooyeon, Lee J, Kaufman A, Jalil J, Siddarth P, Gaddipati H, Moody D T, and Bookheimer Y. S. Brain health consequences of digital technology use , Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience. 2024; 22(2): 179-187, DOI: 10.31887/DCNS.2020.22.2/gsmal

6. Brahim A N. Are Cell-Phone and Other Digital Devices Safe To Human Health. Med J. 2017; 7 (1&2): 5-8

7. Sadeghi S et al. Impact of Using Digital Devices on the Health of Children: A Systematic Review.

8. Cullen J, Muntz A, Marsh S, Simmonds L, Mayes J, O’Neill K, Duncan S. Impacts of digital technologies on child and adolescent health, New Zealand Medical Journal. 2024; Jul 5: 137(1598). https://www.nzmj.org.nz

9. Ciriello FR, Kögel IS. Pluralistic Digital Harm Analysis: Combining Ethical, Legal, and Historical Views on Corporate Evil. 2024 ,.

10. Joustra A, et al. Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed. 2024; 109: 120–124. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2023-326160 Recognition, prevention and management of ‘digital harm’

11. Dodge, Alexa (2021). Deleting Digital Harm: A Review of Nova Scotia’s CyberScan Unit. Halifax: Dalhousie University

Received on 18.01.2025 Revised on 03.03.2025

Accepted on 10.04.2025 Published on 21.05.2025

Available online from May 22, 2025

Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2025;15(2):98-100.

DOI: 10.52711/2349-2996.2025.00021

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Creative Commons License.

Digital Fasting