I Tried A Love Island-Style Digital Detox For 1 Day & It Wasn’t Easy
Going phone-free while set-jetting through White Lotus filming sites in Thailand is no joke.
As a certified set-jetter, I traveled to Thailand at the end of 2025 to experience The White Lotus Season 3 IRL. I wanted to soak up the ultra-luxury vibes of fictional guests like Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) and Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger) by visiting filming locations like the gorgeous Four Seasons Resort in Koh Samui. But my trip wasn’t all five-star pampering. I also decided to tackle a much less glamorous vacation ritual by committing to a one-day digital detox.
When the guests checked into the resort in Episode 1, they were highly encouraged to leave their computers, smartphones, and tablets in a bag that would be locked away during their stay. Without these electronic distractions, hotel employee Pam tells the Ratliff family they’ll be able to “focus on being present, each other, and self-care.” But it wasn't until months after I got home and watched the chaos build all season on Peacock’s Love Island USA Season 8 that it all clicked, making me see that a luxury resort and reality TV's most famous villa are basically engineering the exact same digital timeout.
As the islanders endure a nearly identical screen-free journey, they may be given phones for the occasional high-octane notification (“I’ve got a text!”) from production, but the villa is a total social media-free zone.
Watching them survive without scrolling made me look back on my own phone-free experiment with a whole new perspective, proving that I truly benefited from that forced disconnect. The first thing I do when my eyes open in the morning and the last thing I do before bed is scroll TikTok or Instagram. I can’t even relax at home without playing music on Spotify or watching a movie on Netflix. My weekly screen time average is around 10-14 hours a day, which is pretty much all the hours I’m awake.
So, in commemoration of this weekend's Love Island finale, I'm reflecting on the time I decided to (unintentionally) channel my inner islander and commit to the plot by ditching my phone during my Thai trip.
Start Small By Picking A Busy Day
To give myself the best opportunity for success with the challenge, I chose a day that I knew I would be completely packed. I traveled to Thailand with EF Ultimate Break, which meant my daily itineraries were filled with planned excursions, suggested activities, and structured free time. Some days were naturally more busy than others, so I chose to put my phone away right before we headed out for a multi-stop snorkeling excursion on a boat in Koh Tao. When I’m in the water, I can’t use my phone anyway, so this little scheduling hack really helped me out.
I was surprised at how easy it was to avoid going on social media throughout the afternoon. Along with staying active in the ocean, I had the new friends I made from my travel group to distract me on the boat.
The hardest part was everything else I wanted to do on my cell that you don’t typically think about during a digital detox. This included seemingly mindless tasks like looking at the time or taking pictures. I had to go old-school by wearing a traditional wristwatch and bringing a disposable camera to snap my pics.
Something else that proved to be difficult was just communicating with people. When we got back to the hotel after our excursion, we were given free time in the evening to grab dinner on our own. I coordinated with my friend on the trip to meet up at a certain time after taking a quick shower, but I ended up getting ready early. I wanted to go sit by the pool and watch the sunset for a bit with my extra time, but I had no way to text my friend where I’d be. Instead, I only got to catch the view for a brief second before returning to our original meetup spot.
I Use My Phone For More Than Just Social Media
While I fully expected to miss Instagram and TikTok, the app I found myself wanting to open the most was actually Spotify. When I’m not staring at my screen, I use my phone as the constant soundtrack to my life — whether I’m getting ready in the morning, traveling or driving, or just winding down with some solo R&R. I just love music, and I found that without my phone I was forced to listen to everything else around me instead.
As hard as it was at first, I discovered there’s a lot that I miss when I tune out the real world. Without music in my ears, I was able to listen to the waves crashing against the beach, I eavesdropped on a few funny conversations, and I even realized the birds at the hotel could speak Thai. It was those tiny moments of checking into reality that really helped me relax as well. I even felt like I got a little closer to my tour group this day because I was so present in every conversation.
TL;DR: I Needed A Digital Detox Day
Surviving a phone-free environment was definitely a test of my willpower, but I got so much out of unplugging by actually looking at the world instead of refreshing my feeds. While I don’t know if I could go cold-turkey for multiple days like The White Lotus guests, I can definitely use my phone less moving forward. I'm ready to channel my inner islander and embrace those strict villa boundaries. Even just one "villa-style" day a month for a digital detox feels like the perfect realistic goal, and it’s something I’m going to start trying to do moving forward.
