In her essay “The Great Offline,” Lauren Collee argues that this is just a repeat of earlier views of city living and the “wilderness.” As white Americans were colonizing the American continent, they began idealizing “wilderness” as being uninhabited land (ignoring the Indigenous people who already lived there, or kicking them out or killing them).
The author contends that it is oversimplified to think of the online environment as fundamentally toxic, even though taking vacations from social media can be beneficial for mental health, especially for people who are dealing with anxiety or harassment. In her essay "The Great Offline," Lauren Collee makes the case that this romanticization of the offline world is reminiscent of past idealizations of the "wilderness" as a pristine, unadulterated remedy for city life. Similar to how early Americans perceived nature as a haven from the stresses of the city, proponents of digital detoxification today frequently see the offline world as a picturesque substitute for our technologically advanced existence.