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The Meaning of Headlines: 'cold turkey' - technology





Messenger published an article on August 21, 2015, with the headline: ‘Sophie Perri: Why I’ve gone cold turkey – and given up technology.’ What does ‘cold turkey’ mean?

Sophie Perri is a journalist. In the article she tells her editor that she has an eye twitch. The editor’s response was that Sophie stared at screens too much and suggested that she should ‘go on a digital detox.’ Digital detox is when a person stays away from technology, such as smartphones, iPads, tablets, laptops, computers, and even television, for a period of time. Detox aims to reduce the effects of toxification – in other words, it’s a cleansing process. Perri mentions digital detoxification camps in America and the United Kingdom specializing in helping people to ‘unplug’ from obsessive use of technology and refresh the body and mind. Perri is not aiming to attend a detox camp.

So what do cold turkeys have to do with technology detoxification? Cold turkey is a free productivity program that people can use to temporarily block themselves from popular social media sites, addictive websites, and games, so that they can digitally detox.

Cold turkey, according to Wikipedia, is ‘the abrupt cessation of a substance dependence and the resulting unpleasant experience, as opposed to gradually easing the process through reduction over time or by using replacement medication.’ It says that sudden withdrawal from drugs – and addictive substances – can be dangerous, leading to potential seizures and fits. Wikipedia gives some suggested explanations for the origin of the phrase, although they aren’t particularly helpful, mainly referring to cold turkey (i.e. cooked turkey left to go cold) eaten ‘suddenly or without preparation.’

Let’s see if Perri stops abruptly from all use of her technology or whether she gradually reduces her use, and whether she prepares herself first for the detox or not. And let’s see if she describes any ‘unpleasant’ experiences.

In the article, Perri explains technology addiction in which heavy users that withdraw from technology experience a constant state of panic for fear of ‘missing out’ on phone calls, news, sales, work information, gossip, and connections with people. She admits that she checks her phone ‘five times in 10 minutes, especially at night.’ Her mission is to ‘go from Monday to Friday without using my phone, iPad and all forms of social media.’ She would continue to use her computer because she still had to do her journalist work.

On her first day of digital detox she experiences anxiety when her phone rings but she is not allowed to answer it. On the second day she admits to cheating when she checks Twitter, Instagram and text notifications. By Saturday she hasn’t cheated all that much and has mainly avoided checking and answering her phone and text messages. She has had no major anxiety attacks or cold sweats or other adverse reactions to going without the use of technology. What it has done is this: it ‘helped me recognise my bad habits.’ And she now has a twitch-free eye.


Scorecard for the Messenger headline is 40%. Perri didn’t go ‘cold turkey’ 0 instead, she tried to go cold turkey, and failed. She didn’t ‘prepare’ for her withdrawal beforehand and she cheated a bit and returned to her technological devices. Nor did she go cold turkey on all of her digital devices, such as her computer and television. She still had her phone turned on; so she saw her missed calls and text messages, but did not answer them. That isn’t ‘cold turkey’ – that’s warm turkey.



MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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