Jonas is sober digitalist: “The enemy is the connection”

Author Jonas Gren has never had a smartphone and has been living disconnected for five years during the work day. At home he has the internet but otherwise he uses a button phone to reach people.
– The enemy is not the internet in say but the constant connection. What it can do to people and what it did to me, says Jonas Gren in News Morning.

This does not mean that Jonas Gren completely avoids technology. He is connected at home and then he checks preschool apps and pays bills, or makes research for his author projects. But there is one thing that separates Jonas from most other Swedes.

I belong to the small group that never got a smartphone, I’ve had my button phone. And paradoxically it is possible to live without a smartphone today, but many feel it is not possible, says Jonas Gren.

But even though Jonas has lived without a smartphone all his life, he has not lived without the internet except in recent years.

The enemy is not the internet in say but the constant connection. What it can do to people and what it did to me.

The disconnection began in 2020

Jonas began his disconnection five years ago when he got his own office and then had to choose for himself whether he would install a router or not. He believes that constant internet presence means that you easily end up in a loop with mail and social media. Every now and then he limited his digital presence and immediately noticed how the days got a different rhythm.

I noticed that I was stressed before, interrupted myself and had a behavior to constantly check the mail even though I didn’t want to. It disappeared. When I felt that I couldn’t write then I was forced to take a walk or in some cases lay flat on the floor and just think about it. I had never done that before, says Jonas Gren.

Jonas calls himself a sober digitalist and is hardly alone about his cause. In addition, this year’s youth barometer shows that more young people want to take control of their screens and that one of the trends this year will be “digital detox”.

“So our little time on earth is not couped”

Jonas points out that the constant connection and multitasking that many people engage in results in stress and high blood pressure. And that one’s own wills are not neglected.

In the most addictive social media apps, large companies have found different ways to get people get stuck. I think we need to create a culture of onetasking, to do one thing at a time, says Jonas Gren and continues.

And help us get to see what we want to do. So our limited little time on this earth is not copped by the interests of others. It can be difficult to know what you want and feel for yourself.