Since his first Ramadan in Dubai two years ago, Muneeb Ahmed Khan has clawed back 150 minutes a day from social media and doomscrolling, or three full days of his life over the month. The Pakistani media planner and part-time content creator wants to keep that going this Ramadan too.
“I’ve brought my screen time down by two and a half hours every day,” he tells The National, calling it a deliberate digital blackout for the holy month. “I log off and try to tune in to what actually matters.”
That means board games, post-iftar running, late-night padel matches or reading actual books. The Ramadan rhythm helps, he adds. “Everything is timed – iftar, tarawih, work, so it’s simpler to limit phone time.”
Slashing screentime can help everyone, even those who aren’t treadmilling content like Khan. A 2022 study of university students in Ajman associated screentime with mood swings, insomnia and addictive behaviour. Elsewhere, scientists have shown links or causality with depression, poorer sleep, weight concerns and, for children and adolescents, cardiometabolic issues.
But in a world where our phones double as alarm clocks, birthday reminders, bank tellers and work tools, is a full-on digital fast truly possible? Digital portion control might be more achievable than going cold turkey – and could be just as beneficial, experts say.
“Ramadan encourages reflection and discipline, which makes it an ideal time to reset digital habits,” says Dr Dinesh Onkarappa of the Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Centre, which runs the country’s first digital detox clinic for children.
Digital habits are often shared within the household, he adds, but children are most at risk because their brains are still developing, something the UAE’s new Child Digital Safety Law recognises. A third of all UAE children spend up to seven hours a day on screens, according to research.
“A healthy digital detox does not necessarily mean removing screens completely but should be structured and gradual,” says Dr Onkarappa. “Reducing non-essential screen use can have a meaningful impact on mental clarity, sleep and family connection.
“The goal is to build a balanced, mindful relationship with technology rather than eliminate it entirely.”
Dubai resident Bashar Alaeddin speaks from experience when he says a full digital detox is extreme and impractical for most. The head of content and digital communications at research consultancy SRMG Think in Riyadh is also a board member at the Middle East Social Media and Digital Association, as well as a professional photographer.
“I got to the point where I didn’t want to spend more time on social media at the end of the day,” he says. His first real detox came in 2017, when he deleted Instagram, and he has since quit for months while travelling. Along the way, he has felt the social anxiety, struggled with the fear of missing out and the pressure to display his work online.
These days, he prefers what he calls ‘digital discipline’ over a total blackout, by setting time limits on each app. “Thirty minutes of Instagram, thirty minutes of TikTok, Thirty minutes of X. That targets the real problem: doomscrolling,” he says.
Even when you’re tired after a long day’s fast, he suggests swapping social media for a book or a film.
The form your digital fast takes can vary and should match your needs and lifestyle, says Maria Camila Jauregui Buitrago, a psychologist at the German Neuroscience Centre in Dubai, where patients bring up the topic with increasing frequency. She recommends a bite-sized approach: scheduling device-free hours, mindful use, limiting social media or digital-free meals and evenings.
“Practical tips include gradually reducing non-essential phone use, setting phone-free periods during prayer, meals, or reflection time, and managing notifications,” she says. “The goal is to create awareness and presence rather than strict avoidance, making the digital fast both sustainable and meaningful.”
Breaking the scrolling cycle short-circuits the way algorithms tap our dopamine reward circuits, she adds. You regulate your emotions better, you’re more present in the moment and can enjoy real-life interactions – all of which supports overall psychological well-being.
For Hasina Jeelani, 31, even quitting Instagram for a month in 2024 helped. “The first thing I noticed is my brain felt so much lighter … like my brain had too many tabs open,” says the writer and consultant “When I closed them all by going off Instagram, my brain could finally breathe again.”
Social media binges spiked by as much as 40 per cent during Ramadan in Indonesia, according to a 2024 research. In the UAE, a third of respondents (37 per cent) said they’re on TikTok between 7pm and 10pm in YouGov’s Ramadan 2026 consumer insight snapshot.
Experts say intentionality – as well as technology – can help to attain some level of digital detox.
“Focus on small, realistic changes. Choose one or two anchor moments each day, such as iftar or suhoor, where you put the phone down,” says Min Ho Kim, a product director of future products at LG Gulf Electronics. “Use automated schedules or notification summaries so you stay calm. When you must check the phone, decide what you want to do before picking it up – and then log off.”
For Jeelani, it's all about planning ahead. “Keep your phone out of reach at bedtime, replace it with a book, and find offline equivalents of your favourite activity,” she says. “The key is to understand when you reach for your phone the most and devise other alternatives so that you can stay strong when the temptation to scroll through reels hits … which it always does.”
We already check our phones some 186 times a day, and Ramadan’s strict routines mean you may also want to open religious apps and check qibla directions. But that’s no excuse, says Dubai-based Mohammed Al Alami, product head at the crypto exchange OFZA.
“Growing up, we didn’t have prayer times living in our pockets. We’d wait for the adhan. That simple habit taught us patience,” he says. He suggests treating Ramadan as a reset to build a healthier relationship with technology by going old-school: reach for a physical mushaf, a paper timetable or listen for the muzzein’s call.
The fast has never been only about food. The holy month is a reminder, once a year, that we need less than we think. The phone just tests us in new ways.
