'Rediscovering boredom and loneliness', the antidote to social intoxication

Learning to live in the emptiness of everyday life, without having the need to fill every moment of boredom and loneliness by 'scrolling' through social networks or picking up a smartphone to check notifications. This would be the antidote to counter the addiction to digital platforms, an increasingly pervasive phenomenon, with as many as 4 out of 10 Italians (38.1%) who, as revealed by the latest Censis Communication Report, in 2025 felt the need to take a break from social media, putting in place a real 'social detox'. Of these, 17.8% did so because they recognise a feeling of addiction to using platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

The phenomenon falls within the perimeter of so-called new addictions, in particular Internet Addiction Disorder, and takes hold in a context in which the widespread use of smartphones and social networks has blurred the line between functional integration and addiction. "To understand whether one is faced with a real addiction, it is not enough to monitor how many hours one uses the smartphone, but one must observe what happens when one tries to do without it," Giuseppe Lavenia, a psychologist, president of the National Association of Technological Addictions 'Di.Te' and professor of work and organisational psychology at the Marche Polytechnic University, tells ANSA. If you realise that you pick up your smartphone without thinking about it, to fill every void, and if you feel irritation or boredom when you leave it, then it is no longer just a habit'.

For Lavenia, 'today boredom has become unbearable, yet it is a fundamental space, because it stimulates the ability to think, to feel and to create'. For a conscious use of social media, the expert goes on to explain, 'there is no need to make extreme gestures, but it is necessary to return to being present'. "For example, a good practice is to stop before opening a social networking site and ask yourself why you are doing it,' Lavenia adds. It can also be useful to deactivate notifications, which continually call your attention.

In addition, 'precise times of the day should be selected in which to use the platforms' as well as 'not bringing your smartphone into every space (at the dinner table, in relationships, at important moments)', the psychologist goes on to explain. Fundamental for the expert is also 'remembering that not everything you feel needs to be shared on social media'.