Brazil’s tech addicts seek healing at digital detox clinic
RIO DE JANEIRO: Like many young people, 29-yearold student L.L. loves his cell phone. So much so, in fact, that his studies, his work and even his personal relationships have suffered, and his phone eventually became a way to avoid people in the real world.
That was when he realised he needed help.
L.L., who like other patients interviewed by AFP asked that their full names not be used, suffers from a form of digital dependency known as “nomophobia,” a neologism derived from the term “nomobile-phone phobia.”
It is a condition with real psychological, social and physical consequences and is on the rise in Brazil, home to the fourth largest number of internet users in the world.
In September, the student started on a course of treatment in the Delete Institute, the first in Brazil to offer free digital detox to online addicts.
Set up in the psychology department of Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University in 2013 by psychologist Anna Lucia King, the Delete centre has already treated 800 people suffering various types of dependency on digital technology.
The profiles vary, from adolescents who spend hours playing video games on their computers, to adults who have lost a spouse over their addiction, or who were fired from jobs for spending too much time on Facebook or WhatsApp.
The aim of the treatment is not to demonise technology but to allow addicts to use it in a healthier manner.
In weekly group sessions they discuss their experiences. They also are given exercises — like trying to read a book or watch a movie without looking at a cellphone — and taught good practices — known as digital etiquette. The goal is to help a person go from an abusive user to a conscientious one. Some disorders may need to be treated medication.
As well as causing emotional problems, nomophobia can inflict physical suffering on an addict.
The centre’s physiotherapist, Mariana King Padua, explained that prolonged use of cellphones, and the angle of the users head when staring at a handheld screen, can put so much pressure on the neck that it causes injuries. “The neck muscles are not adapted to this kind of workload,” she said. — AFP