When we polled our social media followers recently about how much time they spent online, a whopping 28% said that they spend all day on the web.

Most of us spend much of our lives connected – whether it’s on a computer at work or home, on our smarphones and tablets or even listening to iPods when we’re taking the bus to work – but what effect does this have on our brains? Some experts say that many of us are exhibiting symptoms of ADHD as a result of being over-connected: we struggle to sustain attention in tasks, we’re easily distracted from what we’re doing by things like emails and instant messages, and we have difficulty maintaining engagement in tasks that require mental effort.

The benefits of switching off include better sleep, less stress and an increased sense of calm. Cue the rise of the “digital detox” – when you take a break from technology to give your brain a holiday from always being connected.

So why not unplug from technology for a bit? When you go online again, you should find that you’re more focused and can think more clearly.

Go Cold Turkey

Digital detox holidays are on the rise: package trips to exotic locations where you have to hand in your electronics on arrival and go device and Wi-Fi free for the duration of your stay: disconnecting for the over-connected. There are digital detox retreats all over the world, from Fiji to Costa Rica, which offer programmes to help you go cold turkey on holiday. One hotel rewards you for giving up your phone for 24 hours with 24 activities to do without technology, while other retreats offer meditation and mindfulness classes. Getting some time on a tropical beach with a cocktail in hand doesn’t sound like a bad way to go on holiday from technology, does it?

For a cheaper (but less exotic) option for a digital-free holiday head out to the Orange River for a rafting and camping trip for a week, where there’s no cell phone signal, accommodation or electricity:  you sleep under the stars each night. It’s an incredibly recharging and relaxing holiday where you end up having so much fun you don’t miss your computer once!

Weekend detoxing

It’s easy to find places to escape to for the weekend in South Africa with no electricity or cell phone signal. Pack your car full of food, tents, friends and “traditional” games (the ones that don’t require a computer or cell phone) and head out to one of the hundreds of beautiful campsites in the wilderness for a two-day break from your gadgets.

Disconnecting daily

You don’t have to take drastic measures (or leave your home) in order to give your brain a break from being connected: just incorporate daily strategies for switching off.

Julie Morgenstern, a productivity expert, recommends avoiding “email and all screens for the first and last hour of the day so that you wake up and engage in a deeper, more focused activity of some sort. It’s easier to start deep and come up to the shallow. And at night, sleep studies show that being in front of a computer screen is an energy source and it stimulates rather than relaxes.” She also advises that you schedule times to check your email, rather than checking it all the time.

Schedule in time in your week for unplugging from everything and doing something you know that will relax you: having tea with a friend, going for a long walk or reading a book (the paper kind, not one on a tablet or Kindle). If you know you’ll find it hard to resist temptation, then download the app Freedom, which locks you away from the web for up to eight hours at a time.

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