La Voz de Galicia – September 14, 2025 →
I heard on the radio this week about “the inalienable right to digital disconnection.” And although the context of the phrase was the proposed law on reducing working hours, and what it referred to was the right not to have to answer emails or phone calls outside of working hours, the reality is that those words kept dancing around in my head for several days. When everything around us is designed to keep us hyperconnected to our devices, I think that for my generation the idea of “digital disconnection” in the context of both private and professional life is almost impossible, especially when you’re self-employed and your schedule is as uncertain and complex as life itself.
“I wish I could stop mentally replying to that email or WhatsApp until tomorrow morning!” I thought. Because even though I try not to bother others outside of working hours, my mind has its own rhythm. But I was also thinking about the right to that other kind of disconnection, the disconnection from the daily responsibilities of those who cannot afford to stop worrying about their living circumstances. Disconnection, digital or real, is a utopia: no matter how much we want it, the things that worry us cannot simply be “disconnected” from our minds. No matter how much we consider it an “inalienable right,” no matter if it becomes law, in the end, learning to live with our personal and professional obligations, learning to find a rhythm that makes sense for our own existence, rests with each of us, and makes us responsible for the way we inhabit a world that, unfortunately, constantly pulls us in the opposite direction of disconnection…
