Over the last 18 months, we’ve all felt the effects of a screen-time hangover. Whether that be down to serial scrolling on Tik Tok, Instagram and Animal Crossing or wrestling with Zoom burnout, there’s no doubt about it, living life through a screen has taken a toll on our mental health.
In fact, The Royal Society for Public Health found that using social media for more than two hours a day can be associated with poor self-rating of mental health, increased levels of psychological distress and even suicidal ideation. That’s reason enough to set some all-important healthy boundaries with our devices and ensure we’re putting our mental health first.
Last year saw LUSH, Zoe Sugg and mental health charity #IAMWHOLE fronted by Jordan Stephens, launch the world’s first Digital Detox Day. Together, they collaborated to raise awareness of the negative impact social media can have on our mental health and helped people to form healthier relationships with their devices by pledging to step away from technology for 24 hours in a UK-wide social media hiatus.
You can catch up on last year’s campaign video here:
Backed by the likes of Sam Smith, Rita Ora and Jade Thirlwall, it reached over 646.9 million people across social media alone and 4.7 billion across press coverage.
Zoe Sugg, Founder of Zoella, also presented a series of IGTV panel discussions, in which she sat down with fellow creators to discuss important topics around mental health and social media including cyberbullying, human connection, body image, anxiety and setting digital boundaries.
In addition, Zoe also teamed up with LUSH to co-create the IRL bath bomb which raised £200,00 for the Wholeness Fund, where they were able to supply grants for grassroots organisations focused on mental health.
Following the success of last year’s DDD campaign, we want to continue the momentum and inspire positive change in our daily lives, to ensure as many people as possible join the conversation and access the support they need to make social media work better for their mental health, period.
After the past 18 months+ of living with the ongoing effects of lockdown life, the importance of stepping away from our devices at regular intervals has never been more relevant nor important for our minds. So we urge you to join us in taking a day offline, and enjoy a Digital Detox Day for yourself on Saturday September 4th.
