THEthe irresistible call of analogue well-being. Disconnect from your smartphone, tablet and PC for as long as possible and dedicate yourself to small manual activities: here is the direct answer to digital saturation. Objective: bring the body back to the center and, in doing so, calm the mind agitated by constant notifications. The trend of the moment is precisely that of analogue well-being, symptomatic of a growing need for sensorial rooting to counteract overload and fragmentation caused by the continuous flow of notifications, messages, videos and ringtones. Thus a new idea of wellness is born: more physical, slower, more aware, as well as happily within everyone’s reach. Here’s what to know.
Return to physical feeling: analogue well-being as an anti-stress remedy
When everything passes from the screen, the body becomes the first place to be reconquered. “There handwritingfor example, slows down thinking and restores continuity of attention: it is often suggested to anxious patients. The physical gesture interrupts the mental dispersion and brings thinking back to a more natural rhythm, unloading mental and emotional burdens”, observes the psychologist Elena Benvenuti. Who underlines: «The problem is not technology, but rather the absence of pauses between one digital stimulus and another. The risk is to fall into a state of constant alertness and information overload. In this sense, analogue well-being has a tangible anti-stress function. Even “mundane” daily activities such as cooking and caring for plants they act like authentic emotional regulators. Contact with matter reactivates the sense of being in the present and reduces the perception of agitation”, recalls Dr. Benvenuti.
Manual gestures as mini active meditations
Speaking of analogue well-being, the holistic consultant Emanuela Mattiuzzi broadens the perspective: «Every manual gesture is a form of active meditationbecause it forces you to stay inside what you do, as the ancient tradition teaches Japanese spiritual tradition. And that’s right in this presence the undermined balance is recomposed by the rampant presence of technology in our daily lives.”
Writing by hand, cooking, gardening: the new wellness revolution is analogue (and democratic)
The expert continues: «Painting, create objects with your handseven simply arranging drawers and petting your pet become emotional regulation toolscapable of instilling a sense of internal stability. Not to mention that tidy up a space in your home it always means, even symbolically, reordering an internal dimension. Hence the anti-stress power of household choressuch as tidying up, cleaning, decluttering. It all falls within the scope of analogue well-being. And the result, perhaps keeping the mobile phone offline for at least a couple of hours in a row, is a less fragmented mindmore lucid, serene and aware.”