电子排毒

Hello everyone! Welcome to a new episode of Simply Natural Chinese. I'm Xiaoyue.

Hello everyone, I'm Leo.

Leo, you're finally here! I've been wanting to give you a piece of my mind.

Haha, what's wrong? You sound really angry.

Of course I'm angry! I made a new matcha cake last Saturday, and it was a huge success.

Wow, matcha cake is my favorite!

So I sent you a WeChat message, wanting you to come try it. And then?

And then you didn't reply, right?

Not only no reply, I even called you in the afternoon, but you had your phone turned off!

Sorry, sorry. I bet you thought I had disappeared.

I really was worried. I thought you might have gone back to the UK, or your phone fell into West Lake.

Haha, the phone didn't fall into West Lake, but I did "throw" it away.

What do you mean? Did you get a new phone?

No. I went camping in Anji last weekend, and I decided to do an experiment for those two days.

Camping? That's a great place. But what experiment requires turning off your phone?

It's called "Digital Detox" in English.

Oh! I've heard of that term. Simply put, it's about not looking at your phone, right?

Right. No phone, no computer, no electronic screens at all.

Oh my gosh, as an English teacher, you can actually stay away from your phone for two days?

Yeah. As a teacher, my phone is full of messages from students all day.

I can imagine. Parents and students must contact you frequently.

Exactly. I feel like I'm working 24 hours a day.

So you think you're tired?

Not just tired, I feel like my attention span has been getting worse and worse.

Attention span? Does that have something to do with phones?

Huge connection. I found that I can't even quietly finish reading a book.

I noticed that too. Sometimes I want to read, but after five minutes I want to grab my phone.

Right! That's exactly how it feels. Always feeling like there are important messages waiting for me on my phone.

But when you actually check, most of them are useless group messages.

So I decided to go to the mountains and lock my phone in the car trunk.

Lock it in the trunk? Are you serious? What if you get lost?

I brought a paper map, even though reading maps is really difficult.

Haha, who still uses paper maps these days? So old-school.

It was slow, but that feeling was really special.

So how did you feel on the first day without your phone?

Terrible. Really terrible.

Is it that you're bored?

Not just bored. I even felt like my pocket was vibrating constantly.

Haha, that must be your imagination, right?

Yes, because there was definitely no phone in my pocket.

So how did you deal with that anxiety?

I started setting up the tent, making a fire, preparing dinner.

Without your phone, did these things take longer?

Much longer. For example, I couldn't look up videos on "how to make a fire."

Had to rely on my own experience.

Right, and also help from friends. We sat together chatting, and not a single person was looking at their phone.

That must have felt really strange, but also good.

It was really good. I found that when I wasn't looking at my phone, the colors of the sky seemed brighter.

That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?

It's true! Because you notice things more carefully.

But did you run into any trouble? Like paying for things?

That's exactly what I wanted to say. Doing a digital detox in China is really hard.

Haha, I guessed that.

I wanted to buy a bottle of water on the roadside, but the shopkeeper said they didn't have change for cash.

They asked you to scan QR code?

Right. I said I didn't have my phone with me. The shopkeeper looked at me like I was an alien.

The shopkeeper must have been thinking: how can anyone go out without their phone these days?

In the end, my friend helped me pay.

So without your friend, you might have died of thirst in the mountains.

Pretty much. Not just paying, I even had to scan QR codes to buy admission tickets.

That's the price of our digital life — we rely on it way too much.

Xiaoyue, do you think you could go a whole day without your phone?

Honestly, if I'm in Hangzhou, I don't think I could do it.

Why not?

First of all, I need my phone to call a taxi or scan a bike to get around.

True, without your phone you can't walk even two kilometers.

Secondly, I order food delivery, buy things, even going to the library requires my phone.

So in China, a phone is not just a tool — it's more like part of your body.

What a profound metaphor. But as an English teacher, weren't the students' parents upset when they couldn't reach you?

When I went back on Monday, I had over 200 unread WeChat messages.

Oh my god! How long did it take you to reply to all of them?

I didn't reply right away. I went to have a coffee first.

Weren't you worried about parents complaining?

I told them I went "digital detox" for the weekend. And then guess what?

Were the parents angry?

No, many parents said they were really envious of me.

It seems everyone's feeling the pressure.

Yes. One parent told me he stares at screens for 10 hours a day at work.

And then watches short videos when he gets home.

Exactly. He said his eyes are now blurry when he looks at things.

That's actually bad for your health and for learning too.

As a teacher, I completely agree.

How so?

Many students complain to me that they can't memorize vocabulary.

Is it because they're getting older?

No. It's because their time is fragmented.

Fragmented?

Right. They just look at five vocabulary words, then their phone buzzes and they go reply to a message.

When they come back, they've forgotten all the words from before.

The brain needs time to enter a state of deep thinking.

But phones don't give us that time.

Exactly. Every push notification is stealing our attention.

So for this "detox camping," what do you think was the biggest takeaway?

It's "quietness." That real quietness.

The quietness of the mountains?

No, the quietness in my head. I don't have to think: who messaged me? How many likes did I get?

Speaking of "likes," I think the pressure from social media is also a reason for detox.

Very true. We spend so much time editing photos, posting, replying to comments.

And we compare our lives to others.

Right. You see, Xiaoming went to Europe for vacation. You see, Xiaohong bought a new bag.

And then we feel unhappy.

Actually, when Xiaoming was traveling, he was probably dealing with work on his phone the whole time and wasn't happy at all.

But we only see the photos.

So, putting down your phone is when you realize your own life is beautiful too.

So Leo, are you planning to make "digital detox" a long-term thing?

I'm planning to pick one day every week to completely stay off social media.

Which day? Sunday?

Right. I want to save Sundays for family, friends, and books.

But what if there's urgent work?

I'll tell everyone, if it's urgent, please just call me directly.

People nowadays seem to not like making phone calls anymore.

That's true. But for really urgent things, a phone call is the most effective.

That's definitely a solution.

And I realized, there actually aren't that many "urgent" things.

Haha, you're right. Many things aren't as urgent as we think.

The world keeps spinning perfectly fine without us.

So besides turning off your phone, do you have any other detox suggestions?

There's a really simple method.

Come on, share it!

Change your phone screen to grayscale.

Grayscale? That looks so ugly.

That's the point! Because without those bright colors, apps aren't as attractive anymore.

Wow, that's so clever. I'm going to try it when I get home.

Also, don't put your phone next to your pillow when you sleep.

But I use my phone as an alarm clock!

Go buy a real alarm clock. They're only 20 yuan.

You're right. That way I won't scroll through Douyin for an hour before bed.

And I won't check work emails the first second after waking up.

That feeling is really depressing.

So digital detox isn't just about turning off your phone — it's a lifestyle.

I think I can try that too. Starting this afternoon?

Sure. So do you want to have a phone-free afternoon tea together?

Sounds good. You can make up for that matcha cake I missed.

Sure. But how do we meet up? Without WeChat.

We can agree on an old meeting spot, at an old time.