We live in a hyperconnected world, in which our computers or our cell phones have taken a preponderant place, sometimes to the point of invasion. But turning off the cell phone and its constant notifications is beneficial for our well-being. And for this digital disconnection, the limousine campaign has a real card to play.
Who could still do without their cell phone today? A computer, a television? Screens occupy our lives. For our leisure, our work.
And the numbers speak for themselves.
Every day, French people consult their mobile on average 3 hours and 33 minutes. In addition, 95.1% of French people aged 16 to 64 use a laptop and 79.5% own a computer.
In 2022, the French spent on average 4.6 hours per day in front of a screen, according to the last Digital barometer, released in January 2023.
Little ones are not spared. Two-year-old children spend on average 56 minutes per day in front of the screenswhile adolescents can reach six to seven hours days without school.
On average, the French would therefore spend 14 years and 310 days in front of screens during their lives.
We even invented a word : nomophobiato talk about the anxiety at the idea of being separated from your cell phone… Or of no longer having a battery.
And this time spent in front of screens can have consequences on physical and mental health.
Watch our survey on the advantages of Creuse to disconnect:
Digital hyperconnection can have consequences for physical and mental health. To learn to disconnect, Creuse has many advantages. Speakers in the report: Anneke Bruurs and Bart Gysens, owners of the “Les Filloux” lodge – Pascal Néquier, addiction nurse at CH Esquirol – Eric Moreau, breeder and owner of the Montignat lodge – Florence Parot, sophrologist Report: France Lemaire, Margaux Blanloeil, Frédérique Bordes, Aurélien Lazeirat, Sébastien Passelergue
•
©France Télévisions
Physical pain
Sitting in front of a computer for several hours a day, or hunched over a smartphone can cause back pain, so-called back pain. musculoskeletal problems.
Overconsumption of screens can also lead to eye fatigue, vision problems or headaches.
It also has consequences on the sleep. Not only because it is sometimes difficult to stop scrolling on social networks or stop playing a video game to go to bed, but also because the blue light from screens disrupts the production of melatonin, the hormone that regulates our sleep cycles.
Digital hyperconnection also has consequences on the Mental Health. Florence Parot is a sophrologist. HAS Aubusson, she created the Rest Bubble, and through the requests of her clients, she became a specialist in burn-out.
“From the moment we all had smartphones, the burnout figures increased exponentially, because suddenly we were all connected”notes the professional, who adds “Being connected 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is very tiring for the brain, and if you don’t have a certain amount of personal discipline, like turning off your cell phone at a certain time, using it for certain things, we’re going to overwork the brain, and that’s going to really exhaust it.”
We are in a state of emergency
Florence Parot, sophrologist, on the subject of burn-out
Of course, the cause of burnout is not only hyperconnection, but she participates greatly in it. When Florence Parot works with a person experiencing burnout, she addresses this question. “Most tell me that the cell phone is on 24 hours a day, sometimes under the pillow at night, (…) they tell me they receive messages in the middle of the night. To recover well, there must not be there is noise at night. The phone must be turned off.”
With her advice, Florence Parot teaches her patients the use of their digital tool so that it is useful to them, while it invades them.
But it’s not that easy to disconnect. “If it were easy, we would all do it more often!” smiles Florence Parot. “It’s really a rehabilitationshe adds. It starts with awareness. To say to yourself, hey! How do I really use my phone, my tablet, my computer, my television and suddenly tell myself what I really need in my work, in my relationships with others, in my social life, with my family, and from there issue a framework for oneself.”
And of course, the sophrologist applies her own advice. So, when we send him an email, we receive this automatic response in return. “I answer my emails three times a week. I manage my connection time as best as possible to be fully available when you need it, and to be in accordance with my principles.”
Today, in Saint-Dizier-Masbaraud, Bart Gysens and Anneke Bruurs have set these limits.
To change life
A few years ago, the couple from Belgium was staying in Corrèze, when on a whim, in one week, they changed their lives, falling in love with a house in the Creuse. In the middle of fields and woods. Quiet.
They made it a lodge, and above all their haven of peace.
Anneke was an accountant, Bart director of a vocational school, he also created his digital communications company. Until one day he collapsed. “I’ve had two burnouts, the 2nd was worse. It’s like a rubber band that no longer works.”
I felt my body telling me: stop with the life you have now.
Bart took up pottery. Therapy. A reconnection with manual work, in which the mind must be focused on present action. Today, it’s his new job.
He forgot some social networksand relies on word of mouth to sell his creations, rather than on posted photos.
What helped him get through it was also the contact with nature.
During this spring period, Anneke and Bart spend a lot of time in the garden. “The connection with nature makes us reconnect with ourselvesadmits Anneke, This is what we had lost.”. Today, they live to the rhythm of the seasons.
From April, in their Filloux gîte, guests are woken up by the sound of animals in the neighboring field, rather than the sound of notifications on their mobile phone!, Anneke jokes.
A disconnected break is also what Eric Moreau offers. He is a Charolais breeder in Saint-Frion, in the south of Creuse. 20 years ago, to diversify his activity, he built a lodge.
“If you want to spend a week without seeing anyone, you have to come to the Montignat gîte”, says the backpacker’s guide about him. The chalet is isolated, on the edge of a pond. A paradise for fishermen, and for all those looking to disconnect.
Because here, no internet.
“What we thought was a disadvantage has become an asset. Some tenants choose our gîte because there is no connection”Eric Moreau is still surprised.
Here, in digital withdrawal, vacationers change their habits, take long walks on the trails, and children rediscover their taste for cabins. Without connection, they recover, free themselves, because the use of screens can lead to addiction.
This is what Pascal Néquier, an addictologist nurse at the Pathological Gambling Expert Center at CH Esquirol in Limoges, observes. “If I take the example of someone who would be very present in his company, through his work, but also with the use of screens, when he leaves his job, for him, it is impossible to cut the professional laptop, it is impossible not to anticipate the work that will remain to be done for the next day, it is a constant concern, when the moment is not the most appropriate, it is a moment of rest, or family sharing, or social time, or sports practice.”
And to cleanse your brain of this addiction, the campaign is good.
Florence Parot is a sophrologist recognized. Author of several works on the subject, she worked in England and the Paris region, before reconnecting with her Creuse roots in Serre-Bussière-Vieille.
A return linked to well-being. Because always, when she spent time in the family home, she felt a serenity, linked to the fullness of the environment.
“Being in nature, and being in silence, since here, apart from the birds, we don’t hear much! It will really help the body, the head to function better.”
Especially since here, the cell phone is not a temptation: it’s a white zone!
We will be able to come and recharge ourselves, and not our phone!
Florence Parot, sophrologist
Florence Parot even plans to transform her barn into a center to help stressed people suffering from burn-out to recharge their batteries. Far from the hustle and bustle hyperconnection.
A new beginning enjoyed by Anneke and Bart, in their gîte in Saint-Dizier-Masbaraud. And may they not regret!
