Digital Detox: The Automatic Pilot

Mirjam Jongsma | juni 17, 2025
digital detox

As a student, you are often continuously online for studying, work, and unfortunately, even during moments of relaxation. In this digital age where we are always on, we increasingly feel like we are off.

Being on
It can feel overwhelming to always be reachable and to be constantly distracted by your phone. According to research, students spend an average of 6 hours and 53 minutes a day on their smartphones and pick up their phones about 113 times per day, often within just 3 minutes of having put it down1. Even if you are aware of this and put your phone away, with 2-Factor Authentication you are often forced to reach for your phone during every login attempt. This means you need to muster a great deal of willpower each time to avoid falling into a doom-scrolling spiral and to stay focused while studying. Research has long ago already shown that smartphone use has negative effects on our brain and well-being. Simply having our phones nearby can reduce our concentration and cognitive abilities2. Additionally, excessive smartphone use has been linked to reduced focus and memory3, poorer mental health and energy levels4, increased procrastination4, and heightened academic stress4. Clearly, our handy smartphone has outgrown its original purpose and now brings many negative effects.

Feeling off
In our digital times, we are more challenged than ever to respond to our surroundings with intention and awareness, rather than reacting on autopilot. It’s not just our phones that trigger automatic reactions. As a student, you’re surrounded by stimuli that demand immediate attention. Temptations like alcohol, drugs, or food also require willpower to handle mindfully, and we often get swept up in our craving for instant gratification. In emotionally charged situations or conflicts, it’s easy to respond automatically and regret it later, feeling as if we’ve lost control and become mere passengers in our own lives. With our autopilot switched on, we can end up feeling like we are the ones who have switched off.

Switching off the autopilot
How can we break this pattern? We’ve all heard the classic ‘Count to ten’ advice from parents or teachers when dealing with our emotions. This simple strategy contains a deeper truth. As Viktor Frankl wrote in his book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ (1945), ‘Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.’ By becoming aware of this space and stepping out of autopilot, you can consciously choose how to respond to situations. In autopilot mode, we tend to react impulsively and automatically, which can trigger old, unhelpful habits and worsen our mood. By taking a moment to pause and ‘counting to ten’ before reacting, we can reclaim control over our impulses and live more consciously and purposefully.

Mindfulness as the joystick
Turning off your autopilot and becoming aware of the present moment is the essence of mindfulness5. By practicing mindfulness, we train our attention and awareness, helping us recognize our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. This awareness creates a buffer between the stimulus and ourselves, allowing us to choose our response. Exercises like body scans, breathing techniques, and other forms of meditation are effective tools for this, which you can find on YouTube for example. Additionally, apps like Freedom, Session, One Sec, and PawBlock can help reduce distractions and create that much-needed space between stimuli on our phones and our automatic response. 

With Wake Up Student you can explore ways to integrate mindfulness into your daily life to become more aware and intentional.

Examples of online meditations:

References:

  1. Maza, M. T., Fox, K. A., Kwon, S. J., Flannery, J. E., Lindquist, K. A., Prinstein, M. J., & Telzer, E. H. (2023). Association of habitual checking behaviors on social media with longitudinal functional brain development. JAMA pediatrics, 177(2), 160-167. DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2022.4924
  2. Ward, A. F., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., & Bos, M. W. (2017). Brain drain: The mere presence of one’s own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity. Journal of the association for consumer research, 2(2), 140-154. DOI: 10.1086/691462 
  3. Twenge, J. M., Joiner, T. E., Rogers, M. L., & Martin, G. N. (2018). Increases in depressive symptoms, suicide-related outcomes, and suicide rates among US adolescents after 2010 and links to increased new media screen time. Clinical psychological science, 6(1), 3-17. DOI: 10.1016/j.chc.2018.03.001
  4. Jin, Y., Zhou, W., Zhang, Y., Yang, Z., & Hussain, Z. (2024). Smartphone distraction and academic anxiety: the mediating role of academic procrastination and the moderating role of time management disposition. Behavioral Sciences, 14(9), 820. DOI: 10.3390/bs14090820
  5. Kabat-Zinn, J. (2015). Mindfulness. Mindfulness, 6(6), 1481-1483. DOI: 10.1007/s12671-015-0456-x
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