DIGITAL DETOX AND PHILOSOPHY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS IN THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the philosophical concept of digital detox as a necessary practice for maintaining human well-being, rationality, and freedom in the digital age. By examining digital detox within the framework of philosophy, the study analyzes its similarities and differences with artificial intelligence (AI) as a transformative technological phenomenon. While digital detox emphasizes the limits of digital consumption and the importance of mindful existence, AI represents the expansion of computational rationality and the enhancement of human capabilities. The research employs a comparative philosophical methodology, integrating reflections from classical philosophy with contemporary discourses on digital transformation. The findings suggest that digital detox should be viewed not merely as a psychological or medical practice but as a philosophical response to the challenges posed by AI and technological acceleration.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Данная статья исследует философские аспекты цифрового детокса в контексте современного информационного общества, сопоставляя их с трансформирующим влиянием искусственного интеллекта (ИИ). Цифровой детокс рассматривается как практическая практика и философская парадигма, направленная на восстановление человеческой автономии, рациональности и баланса между технологиями и живым опытом. В исследовании анализируется диалектика зависимости и освобождения с опорой на философские концепции рациональности, субъективности и этики. Сравнительный анализ с ИИ показывает, что цифровой детокс способствует саморефлексии и критическому дистанцированию от технологий, тогда как ИИ, напротив, усиливает зависимость и опосредует процессы познания. В заключении подчеркивается, что философия должна выработать такую концептуальную основу, которая объединяет освободительный потенциал цифрового детокса с неизбежной интеграцией ИИ, обеспечивая тем самым гуманное цифровое будущее.

Keywords: digital detox, philosophy, artificial intelligence, rationality, ethics, digital culture, critical thinking.

Ключевые слова: цифровой детокс, философия, искусственный интеллект, рациональность, этика, цифровая культура, критическое мышление.

Introduction

The phenomenon of digital detox has recently attracted the attention of researchers in philosophy, psychology, and cultural studies as a response to the growing dominance of digital technologies in everyday life. The digital environment, while offering unprecedented opportunities for communication, creativity, and knowledge production, has simultaneously created new risks for human subjectivity, such as dependency, fragmentation of attention, and the erosion of authentic interpersonal relations.

From a philosophical perspective, digital detox is not limited to the practical act of disconnecting from devices, but represents a reflective practice of redefining the boundaries between human freedom and technological determinism. This makes it comparable to one of the central issues of modern philosophy of technology: the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in shaping human rationality, ethics, and social structures [7].

Artificial intelligence can be regarded as both a continuation of Enlightenment rationality and as a radical transformation of the way human beings interact with knowledge and reality. It challenges traditional philosophical categories such as consciousness, autonomy, and responsibility. Digital detox, on the other hand, reaffirms the necessity of human authenticity, self-care, and existential freedom in the age of digital acceleration.

The comparative analysis of these two phenomena is particularly relevant because it highlights the dialectic of withdrawal and expansion: while AI extends human capabilities through rationalization and automation, digital detox emphasizes self-limitation, reflection, and balance. Both phenomena, although seemingly opposed, reveal the fundamental tension between technological progress and human authenticity.

Relevance of the Research

In recent years, the problem of human overdependence on digital technologies has gained unprecedented significance. The global spread of smartphones, social networks, and algorithm-driven platforms has led to a condition often described as “digital fatigue.” The philosophical concept of digital detox emerges as a remedy to restore balance between human subjectivity and technological mediation. At the same time, artificial intelligence represents the pinnacle of technological rationality, raising questions about the nature of human freedom, ethical responsibility, and consciousness. A comparative study of these two phenomena allows us to uncover the deep existential and ethical dilemmas faced by humanity in the 21st century.

Purpose of the Research

The purpose of this article is to analyze digital detox from a philosophical perspective and to compare it with artificial intelligence as a socio-technological phenomenon. The research seeks to determine how digital detox can serve as a critical counterbalance to AI-driven transformation of human life and consciousness.

Methodology

This research is based on a comparative philosophical methodology. First, the concept of digital detox is interpreted in light of philosophical anthropology, ethics, and existential analysis. Second, the phenomenon of artificial intelligence is considered as a continuation of Enlightenment rationality and technological determinism. Finally, the comparative method highlights convergences and divergences:

- Digital detox as an act of conscious limitation and return to human authenticity.

- Artificial intelligence as an expansion of rationalization and automation of human cognition.

The study also draws on hermeneutic analysis of philosophical texts and modern discussions on digital well-being.

Comparative Analysis: Digital Detox vs. Artificial Intelligence

The opposition between digital detox and artificial intelligence represents not merely a practical tension between technology use and its restriction, but a fundamental philosophical confrontation between two visions of human existence in the digital age.

1. Temporal Experience and Human Attention. Digital detox is deeply connected with the question of temporality and attention. In Heideggerian terms, it restores the possibility of authentic being-towards-time, allowing individuals to experience presence without constant digital mediation. Artificial intelligence, in contrast, accelerates temporal experience by optimizing tasks, predicting behaviors, and generating continuous flows of information [1; 6]. AI reconfigures human attention into fragments dictated by algorithms, while digital detox attempts to unify attention through intentional disconnection and reflective practices [3].

2. Rationality vs. Existential Authenticity. Artificial intelligence extends the Cartesian and Kantian paradigm of rationality, where the world is understood through measurable, structured, and programmable models [4]. Its logic is grounded in algorithmic determinism, privileging quantifiable outcomes. Digital detox, however, reasserts the existentialist claim of authenticity (Sartre, Heidegger), where human freedom cannot be reduced to data patterns or predictive algorithms [5]. In this sense, digital detox philosophically resists the reduction of human subjectivity to rational calculation, affirming the irreducible uniqueness of lived experience [2].

3. Power, Surveillance, and Resistance. AI systems, especially those embedded in social platforms and surveillance infrastructures, function as mechanisms of control and normalization (in Foucauldian terms, biopower) [3]. By shaping desires, behaviors, and even values, AI participates in a subtle form of governance that limits human autonomy. Digital detox, in this regard, is a philosophical act of resistance, a withdrawal from algorithmic governance [6]. It allows individuals to reclaim their agency, re-establishing spaces of freedom outside technological monitoring.

4. Ethics of Self-Care vs. Ethics of Responsibility. Digital detox embodies a care of the self (echoing Michel Foucault’s interpretation of ancient ethics). It is a practice of cultivating balance, moderation, and inner harmony in a hyper-connected world [3]. Conversely, artificial intelligence raises questions of responsibility beyond the self—towards society, justice, and humanity’s future [2]. Ethical dilemmas of AI include algorithmic bias, unemployment, surveillance, and the potential erosion of democratic decision-making. Thus, the comparative analysis shows that digital detox emphasizes individual ethics, while AI challenges humanity to reimagine collective ethics.

5. Human Limits vs. Posthuman Aspirations. Digital detox affirms human finitude—it reminds us that attention, cognition, and energy are limited, and that respecting these limits is necessary for well-being [1]. AI, by contrast, embodies the posthuman aspiration to overcome these limits by externalizing cognition and augmenting intelligence [2]. While detox seeks harmony with limitation, AI seeks transcendence of limitation, which raises questions about whether humanity risks losing its essence in pursuit of technological perfection [5].

6. Philosophy of Balance. Ultimately, digital detox and artificial intelligence are not merely antagonistic but complementary. Detox without AI would reduce to nostalgia or escapism, while AI without detox risks leading to alienation, burnout, and dehumanization. A balanced philosophy of technology must therefore integrate both: critical reflection through digital detox and creative development through AI.

Conclusion

The study has demonstrated that digital detox and artificial intelligence, though seemingly opposite in their nature and aims, are deeply interconnected in the philosophical discourse of the digital era. Digital detox is not merely a psychological practice or a fashionable lifestyle trend, but rather a form of philosophical reflection and resistance, an existential response to the excessive rationalization of life introduced by digital technologies. By emphasizing self-care, temporality, and authenticity, it reminds humanity of its finitude and the necessity of balance.

Artificial intelligence, in turn, embodies the highest point of technological rationality and automation. It challenges traditional categories of human subjectivity, such as autonomy, consciousness, and responsibility, by externalizing cognitive functions and creating algorithmic systems that both extend and limit human capacities. From a philosophical perspective, AI demonstrates the potential to transcend human limitations, but at the same time raises concerns about alienation, surveillance, ethical responsibility, and the erosion of existential freedom.

The comparative analysis shows that digital detox and artificial intelligence represent two different strategies of dealing with the digital age: one grounded in the philosophy of limitation and existential authenticity, the other in the philosophy of progress and rational expansion. Taken together, they point toward the necessity of a balanced philosophy of technology, one that neither blindly resists nor uncritically accepts technological innovation.

Therefore, the conclusion is twofold. First, digital detox must be integrated into the broader philosophy of human well-being as a method of resisting alienation and reaffirming human dignity in the age of algorithmic governance. Second, artificial intelligence must be critically engaged with, not rejected, so that its development can align with ethical values, human autonomy, and democratic principles. The future of philosophy in the digital age lies in creating a synthesis where digital detox and AI are not seen as antagonistic, but as complementary elements of a reflective and responsible human existence.

In this sense, philosophy acts as a mediator: it provides the tools for critical self-reflection, establishes ethical boundaries for technology, and ensures that the digital age remains centered on human values rather than purely technical efficiency. Future research should continue to explore how practices of digital well-being, such as digital detox, can coexist with and guide the ethical development of artificial intelligence, leading to a more humane and balanced technological future.

References:

1. Carr, N. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. — New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. — 276 p.
2. Dreyfus, H. L. What Computers Still Can’t Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason. — Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992. — 354 p.
3. Floridi, L. The Ethics of Information. — Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. — 364 p.
4. Kant I. The Critique of Pure Reason, Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1999, 634 p.
5. Mammadzade I. Philosopher in culture. — Baku: Elm, 2010. 280 p.
6. Turkle, S. Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. — New York: Penguin Press, 2015. — 436 p.
7. Zeynalova A. INFORMATION CULTURE AS ONE OF THE MAIN FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INFORMATION SOCIETY //Philosophy of Science. – 2025. – Т. 52. – №. 5. – 120 p.