It’s Time For A Digital Detox!

Sunday (26 June 2016) signals “National Unplugging Day” – the UK’s largest digital detox movement – with people of all ages going gadget free for the day.

And, this tech-free-fest is gathering a real following (and no, that doesn’t mean Twitter followers!) with over 500,000 families taking up the challenge last year!

The effect of excessive use of digital devices on children and parents is clearly a hot topic and Trinity is delighted to be teaming up with experts from Priory Group, the leading provider of mental healthcare specialists in the UK, to support this campaign as it urges the UK to “tech a break”!

With the summer holidays already on the horizon, experts from Priory Group are also warning parents and teens to start preparing to disconnect their devices and to reconnect with their families.

Whilst smart-phones, laptops and tablets might be great ‘digital dummies’ on the journey or in the airport, it’s vital that parents feel confident to detach devices from their children during the holiday before they become a source of friction rather than fun.

But, it’s not always social-media obsessed teens who are the worst culprits…

Dr Hayley van Zwanenberg, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Clinical Director of The Priory Group’s Wellbeing Centres adds; “What could be more disheartening to a child wanting to having a bit of fun with their parents than staring at the top of a loved one’s head as they ignore you whilst on their phone?

“With high expectations of a chilled out weekend, day off or a family holiday, it can cause huge tension when you realise that your partner or parent hasn’t even turned on their “out of office” and is regularly checking-in at work rather than checking up on their family’s happiness.”

Underlining this resistance to logging-off, recent research¹ shows that 65% of holidaymakers said they couldn’t bear to go more than seven minutes without logging into their hotel’s Wi-Fi with one in ten hotel guests revealing they would “panic” if they didn’t have access to free Wi-Fi during their hotel stay!

So, as we play our part in helping to give the UK the drive to disconnect, don’t expect any tweets or blog updates from team Trinity on the 26^th! Enjoy the rest and remember, it’s good to talk!!

¹ National opinion poll commissioned by study by nationwide aparthotel chain Roomzzz, March 2016