Addicted 2 UR Phone? Here's How To Switch Off
There are some people so concerned about their dependency on their devices that they're joining 'digital detox' retreats.
It's snowing and they're pinging towards a bunch of green cardboard pigs.
This is a low-budget, outdoor re-enactment of Angry Birds, the smartphone app which gamers around the world enjoy for 200 million minutes per day.
There is a subtle irony in it - this real-life version of the famous game is being played by eight people who have chosen to be forcibly separated from their mobile devices and tablets. They are 'digital detoxing'.
They have come to a £200 per day retreat in Hertfordshire in search of some respite from their "connected" lives - no WhatsApp, no text messages, no phone calls, no Google, no Twitter or Facebook.
"One of the reasons I'm here is that I want to find a balance," says 23-year-old law student Jack Longden.
"Using social media does facilitate a lot of things in your everyday life but I think it also changes the way you live your day-to-day life and puts pressures on you that shouldn't necessarily be there."
Environmental consultant Max Goodman, 26, added: "I'm always plugged in, I've always got my phone on, always got it out, constantly texting so it's kind of non-stop."
And Sarah Horscroft, 22, told Sky News: "I guess part of it is about getting outside and having a break from being attached to my mobile and my smartphone but the main aim is to know that other people feel the same way as I do."
According to research by Nokia, the average person checks their phone every six-and-a-half minutes. Most of us are awake for around 16 hours a day which means we are looking at our phones more than 1,000 times every week.
Britons spend an estimated 62 million hours each day on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, a survey by market research company OnePoll found.
For our children, it is an even bleaker picture - the average child born in 2013 will have spent an entire year of their lives in front of a screen by the age of seven, according to MyFamilyClub.co.uk
Detoxing might not sound like much fun but this Hertfordshire retreat is different - there is a hot tub in the snow, yoga, textile art, outdoor cooking, a whittling class, and of course the Angry Birds imitation.
The aim is to encourage these urban multitaskers to reconnect with the great outdoors, to reconnect with themselves, and to interact with like-minded people face-to-face.
"Digital technology is supposed to free us up but it has actually tied us to our chairs as well," says retreat organiser Martin Talks.
"In the office you are sitting down, at home we sit in front of the TV and one of the worst things you can do for your health is to be sitting down for a long period of time.
"So we are trying to get them up, get them moving around, get them breathing, give them some fresh air and have a bit of fun."
But is all this really worth £200 per day? (Cheaper options might include - but are not limited to - putting your phone in a drawer).
"You don't need to look at a smartphone first thing in the morning, you don't need to look at it last thing at night, or in the middle of the night. You can actually get a bit of a balance and days [retreats] like this do provide a service in reminding people of that."
With 'wearable tech' likely to take off in the coming years, the chances are that digital devices will pervade our lives even more than they do now.
But experimental psychologist Dr Andrew Przybylski from the University of Oxford does not think there is real cause for concern.
"I think the idea of a 'digital detox' is a really curious one and I think it reflects the fact that a lot of people have an idea that maybe technology is bad for them," he says.
"But if you think about what the things are that people do with digital technology, it's typically finding their way around, talking to their friends and family members. So it's really a question of: what are you detoxing from? Your most important social relationships?
"The advantages of technology are irrefutable. We have a massive cognitive surplus. We have things like Wikipedia and TripAdvisor - sources of information that enrich our lives.
"There are definitely concerns about the downsides of technology but really the evidence is quite shaky." water balloons with a catapult
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