Constantly refreshing our newsfeeds and checking social media for the latest updates has been a thing for a couple of years now, but as a global pandemic continues to spread, it’s all gotten way more frantic lately. One Maltese dad’s solution? Turn it all off for a whole week.

“I feel like now is the perfect time to try something that has been on my mind for a while,” Steve Zammit Briffa announced on Facebook last week.

“A digital detox from the constant barrage of information. No emails, no social media, no messaging apps and no websites whatsoever.”

“I shall be putting my laptop away and swapping my smartphone for an old friend,” Steve continued, sharing a short clip of himself opening a safe to reveal a Maltese Lira (them nostalgia feels tho), and the mother of all nostalgic feels, a Nokia 3310.

Now, with his week over, Lovin Malta reached out to Steve – who’s no stranger to online fame – to find out more about his digital detox during such a hectic time.

“I found myself able to think more clearly,” Steve said, reminiscing on his internet-free week. “I wasn’t constantly checking my phone when I heard the beep. In fact, I’ve now muted all conversations and check things in my own time.”

Going offline hasn’t meant Steve just completely blocked out the rest of his family though… especially at a time like this.

“When my wife video chatted with family, I would say hi from the background,” he clarified. “I also still kept in touch by landline of course. The aim was to waste less time on social media, messengers and websites, not to stop communicating with people.”

But of course, even with so many pros to a digital detox at a time like this, there had to be a downside. For Steve, though, it wasn’t what you might think.

“The one thing I missed is being able to check a fact immediately,” he told Lovin Malta. “Say during a film, I would usually be on my phone checking what song is playing, or where I know a particular actor from. On the plus side though, I focused more.”

But onto more serious matters: how about Steve’s switch from smartphone to Nokia 3310 after all these years?

“Lots of memories,” he smiles. “I didn’t use it much though. I just left it on to receive calls. I forgot how to send SMSs on it!”

Well, I know what I would’ve done with a week-long social media detox right now; challenge my 20-something-year-old Snake high score. In fact, BRB.

Would you consider going on a similar digital detox? Let us know in the comments and tag someone who can’t live without their smartphone!