Français Phone first thing in the morning, computer at work, notifications throughout the day, streaming platforms or social media in the evening: screens have become part of almost every moment of our daily lives. They allow us to communicate, work, learn, and entertain ourselves with an ease that would have seemed extraordinary just a few decades ago.
But this omnipresence raises an increasingly difficult question to ignore: do we still use screens because we genuinely need them, or have we gradually organized our lives around them?
Imagining their complete disappearance is a fascinating thought experiment. Yet in reality, the real challenge is probably not choosing between a fully connected world and a world without technology. Rather, it is deciding what place we want digital technology to occupy in our lives.
This is precisely where digital sobriety comes in. Far from advocating a radical rejection of technology, it encourages us to develop a more conscious relationship with digital tools. This approach concerns our attention and sleep, but also our social relationships, the way we work, and our relationship with the environment.
Why Do Screens Take Up So Much Space in Our Lives?
The omnipresence of screens is not simply the result of a lack of individual willpower. They have become gateways to a large part of our social and professional environment.
The smartphone now combines functions that were once spread across many different objects: telephone, camera, alarm clock, calendar, map, music player, television, game console, newspaper, notebook, and even payment method.
This concentration makes the device extraordinarily convenient, but it also creates an unprecedented situation: almost every everyday need can become an opportunity to look at a screen.
Added to this are mechanisms designed to hold our attention. Notifications, personalized recommendations, infinite scrolling, and suggested content can turn an intentional activity into automatic consumption almost instantly.
The question of screen time therefore cannot be reduced to a simple number of hours. Two hours spent working, talking to a loved one, or taking an online course do not necessarily produce the same experience as two hours spent mindlessly browsing content.
A digital well-being approach therefore begins with a more interesting question than “How much time do I spend in front of a screen?”: “Why am I looking at this screen?”
This distinction changes the nature of the debate. The goal is no longer necessarily to reduce every minute of screen use, but to identify which uses are genuinely valuable and which simply occupy our time without any real intention.
Reclaiming Our Attention in a Hyperconnected World
Attention has become one of the most contested resources in the digital economy. Every app wants to be opened, every platform hopes to extend our visit, and every notification seeks to interrupt whatever we are doing.
The problem, therefore, is not simply the physical presence of a screen. It is also the constant fragmentation of our attention.
We may work on a computer while monitoring our phone. Watch a movie while simultaneously checking social media. Talk to someone while replying to a message. Read a few pages before a vibration suddenly breaks our concentration.
Over time, these interruptions can transform our relationship with time itself. Quiet moments become spaces that need to be filled. Waiting becomes an opportunity to reach for a smartphone. Even boredom, once conducive to imagination or reflection, can feel like something that must immediately be eliminated.
Digital disconnection can therefore be seen not as a punishment, but as a way to recreate spaces where our attention is not constantly being demanded.
It can begin with very small changes: having a meal without a phone, reading without keeping a smartphone within reach, disabling certain notifications, or deciding that a walk does not necessarily require headphones.
These choices may seem insignificant. Yet when repeated every day, they help restore an essential distinction between the moments when we choose to use technology and the moments when technology demands our attention.
Sleep, Relationships, and Work: Putting Screens Back in Their Proper Place
Our relationship with screens goes far beyond entertainment. It affects several fundamental aspects of everyday life.
Sleep is an obvious example. Screens tend to accompany the final minutes of the day and, for many people, the first moments of the morning. Keeping a phone on the bedside table makes this habit particularly easy to maintain: one message, news story, or video can turn a consultation intended to last a few seconds into a much longer session.
Public health organizations generally emphasize the importance of healthy digital habits and maintaining a balance between connected activities, physical activity, rest, and sleep. The issue is not simply how many hours we spend in front of a screen, but also whether screen use interferes with other essential needs.
Human relationships are also affected. Digital tools allow us to maintain long-distance relationships, reconnect with people, and create communities that might otherwise never have existed. Yet permanent connectivity can paradoxically compete with the people who are physically present.
This does not mean that digital interactions are inherently bad or that face-to-face encounters are always superior. It means recognizing that each form of communication has its own strengths and limitations.
The same reasoning applies to work. Remote working, video conferencing, and collaborative tools offer considerable flexibility. At the same time, the boundary between professional availability and personal time can become increasingly blurred.
Digital sobriety can therefore involve creating boundaries that our environment no longer automatically provides: periods without professional messaging, screen-free breaks, or a clear distinction between tools used for work and those reserved for leisure.
Digital Sobriety Is Also an Environmental Issue
Reducing unnecessary digital use is not only about protecting our attention. Behind the seemingly immaterial world of the Internet lies a very physical infrastructure: smartphones, computers, servers, data centers, networks, and telecommunications equipment.
Every device must be manufactured, transported, powered, and eventually replaced or recycled.
From this perspective, digital sobriety can also mean keeping devices for longer, repairing them whenever possible, limiting upgrades motivated solely by novelty, and considering which digital uses are genuinely necessary.
This perspective adds an important dimension to the debate about screens. Our responsibility does not begin when we switch on a device and disappear when we switch it off. It also extends to the entire life cycle of the equipment we use.
Responsible screen use therefore brings together several concerns that may initially seem unrelated: protecting our attention, sleeping better, improving certain social interactions, and reducing the material impact of our digital habits.
How Can We Practice Digital Sobriety Every Day?
Trying to radically change all our habits in just a few days rarely leads to lasting transformation. It is often more effective to identify specific situations in which screens occupy more space than we would like.
Here are several simple habits worth experimenting with:
Disable non-essential notifications. Every notification removed means one less demand on your attention.
Create smartphone-free spaces. The dining table, bedroom, or certain outings can become deliberately less connected environments.
Keep your phone away while performing an important task. Even a few meters of distance can reduce the temptation to check it automatically.
Use a traditional alarm clock. This can prevent your smartphone from automatically becoming the last object you look at before sleeping and the first one you check in the morning.
Group certain digital activities together. Checking messages or social networks at chosen times can be more comfortable than responding to every notification immediately.
Keep devices for longer. Before buying something new, consider whether your current device has genuinely stopped meeting your needs.
Deliberately reintroduce screen-free activities. Reading a printed book, exercising, cooking, walking, having a conversation, or engaging in a creative activity gives your attention a chance to function differently.
Observe your own habits. Screen-time tracking tools can be used not to create guilt, but to identify habits you would genuinely like to change.
The goal is not to achieve a perfect “digital detox.” Such an approach can reproduce an overly simplistic view of the problem: connected or disconnected, disciplined or addicted.
A more sustainable approach is to gradually regain control over our habits. Before opening an app, for example, we can ask whether we have a specific reason for doing so. When a notification appears, we can consider whether it is genuinely urgent. And before replacing a device, it is worth asking whether it is truly obsolete.
These small habits can turn digital sobriety into an everyday practice rather than a temporary restriction.
What If the Real Luxury Became the Ability to Disconnect?
For a long time, being connected represented a form of progress: rapid access to information, instant communication, remote working, and access to an almost unlimited amount of content.
These possibilities remain extremely valuable.
But as permanent connectivity becomes the norm, a new form of scarcity is emerging: the ability not to be interrupted.
Being able to read for an hour without interruption, have lunch without checking a phone, or finish the day without looking at one final notification could become a modern form of freedom.
This is why simply opposing “screens” and the “real world” probably leads to a dead end. Digital tools are now part of the real world. They shape aspects of our education, work, culture, and relationships.
The decisive question therefore becomes one of control: are we able to determine when these tools enrich our lives and when they begin to invade them?
This reflection connects directly with the questions explored by Léwis Verdun in A World Without Screens: Dream or Nightmare? By imagining what might happen if phones, computers, tablets, and connected devices suddenly disappeared, the author opens up a broader discussion about our dependence on digital technology, but also about the considerable benefits it brings.
Ultimately, the choice does not necessarily have to be between keeping everything and eliminating everything. Instead, it can involve rebuilding a more balanced relationship with technology: preserving what it gives us while protecting our attention, sleep, relationships, and inner freedom.
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