Simply switch off: the 30-day WhatsApp diet against stress

Our author dared. She turned off Whatsapp for a month. What did she learn from the WhatsApp detox? The world is much more relaxed if you don't keep up with the times.

I announced it for a long time. They all didn't believe me. And then I did it. Just in time for my birthday (to climb the summit of cheek with timpani and trumpets right on day 1) I switched off my cell phone. Why did I do that? Maybe I wanted to annoy the world a little bit for all the unnecessary BINGS that I've been taking too seriously in the past few months. It happens very slowly, with the BING terror, but suddenly it overwhelms you, at the latest when you have children and suddenly finds yourself in three hundred and fifty million WhatsApp groups on the most ridiculous topics.

Whatsapp stressed

Oh, it had started so harmlessly. With the nice feeling of being able to send a picture to mom, a quick info to the boss, a short “miss you” to your loved one, without having to chat for a long time or to crash the capacity of GMX with large image files. Yes, it was wonderful. But then it started. Do you know these people who send three question marks after two minutes of no response? Unfortunately I probably know them all. In any case, in my life they are a frighteningly common species: the Whatsapp stressors. Especially popular is the question: "Are you still alive?" If you don't react immediately. The crazy thing about it is that sometimes, for once, life happens beyond the smartphone. In the real world. Unfortunately, I missed them more and more because my eyes stuck to my cell phone and my fingers danced over the keys so as not to collect three question marks. Sometimes I really texted in the toilet. So the question was pretty obvious: How deep can you actually sink?

Time for a little social detox

So while the world around me was purifying after low-season with low carb and disgusting golden milk, losing clothing sizes or becoming more mindful, I tried to take it slow with my cell phone. You don't always have to answer, I thought, but it was self-deception. Because what really stressed me was not the question marks and not the messages that came, but my sick urge to keep laughing at the cell phone or to press the little button as if by remote control to light up the display. Researchers have found that this push of a button triggers a feeling of happiness similar to that of chocolate and is therefore addictive. I think immediately. CLICK! AAAHHH.

A month is long

I would really like to write more differentiated now and divide my month into phases in which it was more or less difficult for me, but it would not be honest. The truth is: it was awesome. From day one. I was already thinking about whether I had some sociopathic traits because I got along so well with myself and even enjoyed it a bit that obviously many people without WhatsApp were completely overwhelmed to contact me. Maybe that's the way it is. But it doesn't matter, because I've learned three important lessons! First: Not everything requires my reaction 2. My life is just as beautiful if only I am happy about a beautiful sunrise and not thirty Whatsapp friends with me 3. The only one who can stress you out at Whatsapp is you. Because Question marks don't matter if you don't see them. The most important thing is that everyone else has also learned something, namely: I am simply not always available. And not because I no longer live, but because I live. And that's not cheeky, not brave, not blatant, that's healthy.

And now?

The month is now over. No, I'm not jumping off the digital window sill and deleting the app, I'm not that blatant. But I understood that Whatsapp is actually nothing more than a mailbox, at least if you turn off the stupid blue tick and the "last online" function. You can empty it, but you can also leave it. When you do that is nobody's business. Neither when you answer. And now and then you should maybe go on a digital vacation and unsubscribe from the post. To really relax again. And yes, a little bit too, to annoy the world, because that is a lot more fun than getting upset about it when three question marks light up again.