Bus Inf Syst Eng 64(2):239–246 (2022)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-022-00747-x

CATCHWORD

Digital Detox
Milad Mirbabaie • Stefan Stieglitz • Julian Marx

Received: 26 November 2020 / Accepted: 21 December 2021 / Published online: 22 February 2022
 The Author(s) 2022

Keywords Digital detox
Technostress
Knowledge leisure time of an unprecedented number of people. A
work
Information technology recent study revealed that 33.1 million Germans use the
Internet ‘‘multiple times a day’’, and 11 million even state
to use it ‘‘constantly, almost the whole time’’ (Statista
2020). Scholarship clearly suggests that this compounded
‘‘We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves
screen time can entail severe consequences to the wellbe-
awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite
ing of individuals (Pflügner et al. 2020a). In fact, using IT
expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us
can lead to technostress, which is defined as ‘‘any negative
even in our soundest sleep. I know of no more
impact on attitudes, thoughts, behaviors, or body physiol-
encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of
ogy that is caused either directly or indirectly by technol-
man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavour.’’
ogy’’ (Weil and Rosen 1997, p. 5). Technostress constitutes
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden
a pressing social issue, especially with regards to changes
in work-life boundaries, potentiated by the COVID-19
pandemic (Thomas et al. 2020). According to a study
1 Introduction conducted in 2019, 86 percent of participants claimed that
the inability to switch off devices after regular working
The increasing use of information technology (IT) has a hours has a negative effect on employee wellbeing (Stewart
pervasive impact on society, including the world of work 2020). The result is a personal feeling of being over-
and its boundaries. Individual professionals, and knowl- whelmed by communication content and interpersonal
edge workers in particular, are exposed to digital devices online connections, which negatively affects work and
during the bulk of their working hours (Orlikowski and private life alike (Gui and Büchi 2019).
Scott 2016). In addition, persuasively designed social To counteract technostress and its negative conse-
media and digital entertainment applications occupy the quences on individual wellbeing and productivity, the
notion of ‘‘digital detox’’ has found its way into popular
Accepted after two revisions by Christine Legner.
culture and, more recently, Information Systems (IS)
scholarship (Vaghefi et al. 2018; Eichner 2020; Zhou et al.
M. Mirbabaie (&) 2020). Digital detox describes a periodic disconnection
Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Paderborn from IT as well as strategies which help to reduce the
University, Warburger Str. 100, (Q3.128), 33098 Paderborn,
engagement with IT (Syvertsen and Enli 2019). Both its
Germany
e-mail: [email protected] conceptualization and empirical analysis, however, have so
far remained vague. Early research presents mixed results
S. Stieglitz
J. Marx concerning the effectiveness of digital detox to improve
Department of Computer Science and Applied Cognitive
individual wellbeing (Wilcockson et al. 2019; Brown and
Science, Faculty of Engineering, Digital Communication and
Transformation, University of Duisburg-Essen, Forsthausweg 2, Kuss 2020; Schmuck 2020). Yet, making a statement about
47057 Duisburg, Germany its effectiveness largely depends on the way digital detox is

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defined in each individual study. Despite this ambiguity, The flipside of the coin is that, with increasing IT use
however, the literature commonly stresses the importance due to remote work arrangements, knowledge workers are
of remaining absent from IT for specified periods and calls exposed to a higher risk of technostress (Chandra et al.
for more research on this matter. The growing demand for 2019). This phenomenon refers to stress individuals expe-
digital detox before, during, and most likely after the rience because of their IT use and their inability to cope
COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally questions the way we with it healthily (Riedl et al. 2012; Mahapatra and Pillai
use IT. Individuals increasingly find themselves yearning 2018; Sarabadani et al. 2020). As employees often have to
for time without the pervasive presence of IT (Fu et al. adapt to new and changing IT implemented by their
2020). Digital detox, we argue, poses a symptom of a organization, a number of scholars in IS focus on employee
serious problem, that is, detrimental effects of IT use on and IT professional related technostress (Chiu 2018;
health and work satisfaction. How can IS research help to Mahapatra and Pillai 2018; Sarabadani et al. 2020).
get to the root of this problem?
2.1 Theoretical Underpinnings of Technostress
Literature
Digital Detox
Digital detox describes a periodic disconnection from IT as well as Theoretically, the technostress literature heavily builds on
strategies which help to reduce the engagement with IT (adapted
from Syvertsen and Enli 2019) the transactional model of stress (Lazarus and Folkman
1984). According to this model, individuals react cogni-
tively to stimuli by assessing the motivational significance
of a situation (primary appraisal). This may result in the
In this article, we demonstrate the rationale behind perception of a situation to be irrelevant, benign-positive,
digital detox and the developments in organizational or stressful. Subsequently, according to the model, indi-
knowledge work that precipitate the increasing popularity viduals evaluate the assessment by contemplating possible
of periodically refraining from the use of IT. Moreover, we actions to manage the situation (secondary appraisal). For
propose a first conceptualization of digital detox to guide example, one tries to find ways of alleviating possible harm
future research in IS and beyond. in case of a stressful situation. The stressors perceived in
the situation, in turn, provoke a stress reaction that can be
of physiological, emotional, cognitive, or behavioral nature
2 Technostress in Organizations (strain). Finally, the individual may suffer from conse-
quences caused by stress.
IT pervasively affects individuals’ private and professional So far, IS literature has built on this model in a threefold
life (Tarafdar et al. 2019). Work arrangements built around manner. First, the transactional model has been tailored to
steady IT use have become commonplace, in particular for technostress in organizations, defining the dimensions job
knowledge workers (Kissmer et al. 2018). The latter are characteristics, technological environment, organizational
defined as workers whose occupation relies on ‘‘the cre- environment, and social environment, in which stressors
ation, distribution or application of knowledge’’ (Daven- can occur. Moreover, consequences of technostress do not
port 2005, p. 9) Typical work arrangements allow only affect individual wellbeing, but may also impair
knowledge workers to connect with people in geographical performance, productivity, and IT user satisfaction (Adam
proximity, across greater distances, or completely et al. 2017). Second, specific techno-stressors have been
remote—independently of time and space (Frick and Marx defined, as shown in Table 1.
2021). The COVID-19 pandemic has impelled a bulk of the Third, technostress research has explored so-called
workforce to switch to remote work arrangements, and coping strategies to mitigate technostress. With reference
home office respectively (Brynjolfsson et al. 2020). to the transactional perspective, these strategies can be
Whereas this development may be expected to be only problem-focused, e.g., stress-sensitive systems that provide
temporary, leading firms such as Microsoft or Siemens live bio-feedback (Adam et al. 2017), or emotion-focused,
have announced to preserve the ratio of remote work e.g., mindfulness exercises (Pflügner et al. 2021). What the
arrangements compared to regular office work beyond the technostress literature has in common is that proposed
pandemic (Newman 2020). This permanent shift means an coping strategies set in only after the second appraisal, i.e.,
empowerment of the knowledge worker in terms of her after a stressor has been experienced and assessed as such.
mobility and autonomy, while dismissing the paradigm of This constraint opens a new theoretical angle to approach
the corporate 9 to 5 job applied to knowledge work (Wang technostress.
et al. 2020).

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Table 1 Techno-stressors Techno-stressor Description

according to Adam et al. (2017),
Tarafdar et al. (2019), and Techno-overload Technology urging employees to work more and faster
Pflügner et al. (2021)
Techno-invasion Constant availability; blurring work/life boundaries
Techno-complexity A perceived lack of abilities to meet the demands of IT use
Techno-insecurity Fearing to lose one’s job to IT or IT-savvy contenders
Techno-uncertainty Uncertainty about changes in existing or new systems
Techno-unreliability System malfunctions

2.2 A Digital Detox Perspective on Technostress and techno-overload in organizations. Here, the authors
proposed communication measures for employees and
Research on technostress in organizations is guided by the management that might be able to reduce the exposure to
assumption that individual exposure to techno-stressors is IT and its demands (Pflügner et al. 2020b). Strategies
determined by job characteristics or technological, orga- specifically aiming at the reduction of stimuli and succes-
nizational, and social environments. Intervention through sive stressors in the context of technostress in organiza-
digital detox, we argue, can also start earlier, i.e., prior to tions, however, have not been part of the debate. Instead of
the individual being exposed to the stimuli and techno- changing the independent variable (IT exposure), research
stressors, respectively. Figure 1 summarizes this supposed has focused on finding appropriate moderating forces
theoretical relationship. (coping strategies) that alter the stress reactions and con-
If understood as a periodic disconnection and strategies sequences. Digital detox, in this sense, offers an additional
to reduce the engagement with IT, digital detox has been perspective (prevention strategies) that alleviates the pre-
investigated sporadically in technostress literature in the determined experience of technostress when performing
form of coping strategies. Under the label of ‘behavioral knowledge work.
disengagement’, Hauk et al. (2019) describe the phe-
nomenon of an individual ‘‘breaking off any further
interaction and withdrawing from the stressful situation’’ 3 The Concept of Digital Detox
(p. 22). Interestingly, the authors found this behavior to be
counter-productive, with stress levels reducing in the short- Recently, the notion of digital detox has received increas-
term, but then yoyoing back once the individual returns to ing attention in academia, popular culture, and the self-help
the unresolved situation. Another study examined coping industry. The term ‘detox’ itself describes ‘‘a process or
strategies which specifically answered to techno-invasion period of time in which one abstains from or rids the body

Coping Strategies
Digital
Detox
Problem-focus Emotion-focus

Prevention Strategies

Problem-focus Emotion-focus

Stressors Stress reaction Consequences

(secondary appraisal) (strain)

Job Characteristics Physiology Well-Being

Stimuli and Health
Technological
(primary Emotion Performance
Environment
appraisal) and
Organizational Productivity
Cognition
Environment
User
Social Environment Behaviour Satisfaction

Fig. 1 The role of digital detox in the model of organizational technostress (adapted from Adam et al. 2016)

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of toxic or unhealthy substances’’ (Oxford Languages from existing strategies that they differ in the ‘extent of
2021). In medicine, the scientific grounding for detoxifi- intervention’, that is in considering how much a digital
cation is controversial – it can rather be seen as a consumer detox strategy comes into conflict with organizational
buzz word in conjunction with healthcare products (Cohen processes, norms, and behavior. Third, digital detox can
2007). In the digital context, however, the effectiveness of have different ‘levels of IT-assistance’, e.g., through
detox measures is currently being scrutinized. Extant lit- mindfulness apps, disabled e-mail servers after working
erature on digital detox goes back to around 2015 (Ugur hours, or calendar reminders to practice digital detox.
and Koc 2015) and is dispersed across disciplines such as Figure 2 provides three examples that range differently
Psychology (Schmuck 2020), Media and Communication across the three dimensions of digital detox.
Studies (Syvertsen and Enli 2019), and IS (Mirbabaie et al. In this example, IT-free lunch breaks are minimal in
2020). length, intervention, and need for IT assistance. No-dis-
traction appointments, on the other hand, can be medium in
3.1 Digital Detox Research and Strategies length and high in intervention and IT assistance. A
mindfulness exercise may be chosen with short to medium
So far, empirical studies report mixed results concerning length, no means of IT assistance and no interventions of
the effectiveness of digital detox (Wilcockson et al. 2019; organizational processes, norms, and behavior.
Brown and Kuss 2020; Schmuck 2020), while also stating Below, we combine these dimensions with the transac-
the importance of more research on this matter. The tional perspective known from the (organizational) tech-
ambiguity of empirical findings, however, is partly due to nostress literature. Here, we consider both the motivational
an inconsistent and often vague conceptualization of ‘dig- component of digital detox as well as the characteristics of
ital detox’. Moreover, viewed through a technostress lens, a given digital detox strategy. Figure 3 depicts this inte-
the phenomenon has been researched under the assumption grated concept of digital detox.
of it being merely a coping strategy. This is reflected in This concept is useful for future research on digital
recent definitions of digital detox, describing a process in detox for two reasons. First, digital detox proves to be a
which an individual abstains from objects that are per- valuable concept to technostress and adjacent literature as
ceived as unhealthy once exposure to them surpasses a it expands the theoretical chain of causation prevalent in
certain point (Syvertsen and Enli 2019). Other terms like current literature (stressors-strain-consequences followed
‘‘digital diet’’ or ‘‘media diet’’ (Andersen et al. 2016) by coping strategies to stressors-strain-consequences pre-
revolve around the same phenomenon as digital detox, ceded by prevention strategies). Second, it allows for future
which complicates consensus building. To establish the research to determine a grading of digital detox strategies.
basis for a sound conceptualization of digital detox, This means that each measure (preventive or coping in
Table 2 provides an overview of digital detox strategies nature) can be assessed and compared along the three
that are prevalent in the literature. dimensions.
For the purpose of this article, we refer to digital detox
as an integrated approach to temporarily refrain from IT
use to improve overall well-being and mental health. In 4 Research Agenda and Summary
doing so, we want to emphasize the preventive element of
digital detox in addition to the coping element, as proposed In conclusion, the interdependencies of knowledge work
by the transactional model of technostress (Adam et al. arrangements and technostress make a strong case for more
2017). Henceforth, this catchword paper aims to shed light research exploring the phenomenon of digital detox.
on the different strategies of digital detox and to establish Moreover, additional theorizing is necessary to understand,
the concept as a proper subsumption to the technostress explain, and predict behavior related to digital detox. In
literature. this regard, it is imperative for IS research to examine how
digital detox strategies can prevent technostress and what
3.2 Toward a Conceptualization of Digital Detox value this perspective adds to existing coping strategies
in Organizational Contexts (see Fig. 1). Possible research questions are:
• What are individual motivators for knowledge workers
In the following, we aim to provide a first conceptualiza-
to conduct digital detox?
tion of digital detox in organizations. As a first step, we
• How do individual digital detox strategies differ when
take the identified digital detox strategies as shown in
motivated by prevention as opposed to coping?
Table 1, and abstract three theoretical dimensions. First, we
• Which techno-stressors can be mitigated by preventive
propose that the ‘length of the interval’ should be subject of
digital detox strategies?
scrutiny when researching digital detox. Second, we derive

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Table 2 Examples of digital detox strategies covered by literature

Focus Strategy Supporting literature

Emotion-focused Reflecting personal values and mindset Middleton and Cukier (2006); Syvertsen and Enli (2019); Pfaffinger
strategies et al. (2020)
(individual) Emotion management Al-Fudail and Mellar (2008)
Mindfulness training Pflügner et al. (2021)
Problem-focused Non-use, withdrawal, and time-outs Baumer et al. (2013); Braukmann et al. (2018); Mirbabaie et al.
strategies (2020); Przybylski et al. (2021)
(individual) Self-regulation of usage behavior Uhls et al. (2014); Turel (2016); Anrijs et al. (2018); Stadin et al.
(2020)
Job transition Butts et al. (2015)
Restricted social media use Gui et al. (2017); Aranda and Baig (2018); Karmakar (2020)
Use of digital wellbeing applications Gui et al. (2017); Eichner (2020); Karmakar (2020)
Switching to alternatives and offline behaviors D’Arcy et al. (2014); Syvertsen and Enli (2019)
Segmentation of work and non-work Sonnentag and Fritz (2015)
Problem-focused Top-down regulation of usage behavior (e.g. shut Görland and Kannengießer (2021)
strategies down e-mail servers)
(organizational) Organizational digital detox events Karlsen (2020)
Training and support Tarafdar et al. (2011); Pfaffinger et al. (2020)

IT-free lunch break No-distraction appointments Mindfulness exercise before work

Length of the Length of the Length of the
interval interval interval

Level of Level of Level of

Extent of IT Extent of IT Extent of IT
organizational organizational organizational
assistance assistance assistance
intervention intervention intervention

Fig. 2 Examples of digital detox strategies and their specification

Motivation Strategy
Dimensions
Emotion-
Coping Individual
focused Length of the interval

Extent of intervention
Problem-
Prevention Organisational
focused Level of IT-assistance

Fig. 3 Conceptualization of digital detox in organizations

Methodical approaches to these types of questions can detox, what motivates them, and how it changes their work
vary, however, qualitative-interpretivist inquiries will help processes and technology use.
to obtain a phenomenological angle to digital detox. It is In addition, subsequent questions emerge when shifting
crucial to understand how individuals experience digital to an organizational view on digital detox. As proposed by

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the transactional model of technostress, factors such as job to preventively regain equanimity and balance with regards
characteristics, technological environment, organizational to IT use. As Henry David Thoreau, the poet and
environment, and the social environment impact the philosopher we referenced in the opening quote to this
exposure to techno-stressors (Adam et al. 2017). This line article, would most certainly agree, digital detox may help
of argumentation yields further research questions: us to elevate our lives by more conscious endeavors with
and without IT.
• How do job characteristics affect the conduct of digital
detox?
• How is the technological environment (number and Funding Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt
types of devices, software, etc.) interrelated with digital DEAL.
detox?
• To what extent is management responsible for ensuring
an organizational environment that appreciates digital Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing,
detox? adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as
• What are the implications of digital detox for the social long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the
environment inside organizations, e.g., in times of source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate
social isolation? if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this
article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless
Here, hypothetico-deductive methods using quantitative indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not
included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended
data will help to test the theoretical relationships of digital
use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted
detox, e.g., building on the transactional model of use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright
technostress. holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.
In existing studies, due to conceptual ambiguity, the org/licenses/by/4.0/.
effectiveness of digital detox has been assessed with mixed
results. Therefore, it will be important to clearly define
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