Do You Need to Go on a Digital Diet?

By Lauren Le Vine, REDBOOK.

Louis C.K. recently made headlines when he told Conan O'Brien that he doesn't allow his daughters to have cell phones. "I think these things are toxic, especially for kids," C.K. said. "They don't look at people when they talk to them; they don't build empathy. You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something."

Related: How to Finally Halt Emotional Eating

Notable industry members such as Arianna Huffington have become advocates of the movement to unplug and disconnect, but as with all things in life, going cold-turkey is tough. We talked to Daniel Sieberg, a senior marketing manager at Google and author of The Digital Diet: The Four-Step Plan to Break Your Tech Addiction and Regain Balance in Your Life, about the dangers of too much screen time-and the smart way to curtail your daily digital hours.

Structure your e-day
"Work toward a finite beginning and end to your connectedness. Dive into the gadgets, emails, and texts only when you've composed yourself in the morning. When you're ready to unplug in the evening, do it without reservation and focus on what--and who--is immediately around you."

Related: Is Social Media Ruining Your Relationship?

Ditch the virtual version of yourself
"I realized when I wrote the book that I was posting on social media in hopes of staying in touch with family and friends, but I wasn't really listening to anyone. I had become a terrific broadcaster, but a terrible communicator. When I met up with friends in person, I didn't know anything about their lives, but they knew the 'digital Adonis of Daniel'-this perfect idea of who I am. If you're always posting things that you wouldn't tell people in person, you need to stop and consider what you're not getting out of your real life that you're trying to get out of social media."

Stack your phones
"Bringing your phone to a dinner is like inviting a guest whose only motivation to be there is to interrupt. When you go out to dinner, put your phones in a pile. The first one to grab his or her phone pays for the meal."

Keep it out of the bedroom
"My wife used to call me Glow Worm because my face was always lit up by a device when we were in bed. It doesn't lead to great intimacy. Try to have the bedroom as your couple sanctuary. Don't even charge your phone in there-I promise you'll be able to get to it in the morning if it's in your kitchen or bedroom. Give yourself a little barrier for your relationship and yourself."

Related: 21 Ways to Burn Fat Faster

Louis C.K. has a point
"A lot of parents and researchers worry that devices are affecting eye contact and how we interact with each other. I know families who text each other when they're all at home. We need to make sure everything isn't channeled through the screen. There's a skill set that comes around having a conversation that's still very valuable in today's society no matter how adept you become in the digital world."

Stage an e-tervention
"If you know someone who could benefit from a digital diet, broach the subject with a joke to add levity to the situation. Say something like, 'You must be one of the top power-users on that site.' Kids can be defensive about this stuff and fire back with, 'You're old, Dad, everyone's on.' My family friend decided to ban devices on a recent vacation, but in exchange for taking their phones away, he gave everyone a digital camera. Sure, he had to spend some money, but his family took cool pictures, learned a skill, and they interacted with each other and their environment."

But seriously, there's no need to go cold turkey

"I know there are lots of movements to unplug, but that's just not practical. There are wonderful reasons to use our devices-we can reach an amazing number of people, work remotely, and stay in touch-it really is tapping into those visceral human desires to be part of a community. My message is to love your technology, but not unconditionally. You don't want to get so caught up in the virtual world that you miss something in real life."

More from REDBOOK: