your phone can’t hug you!

I came across an article about a startup in Miami where for $75 you can have your back scratched for 30 minutes. Not a massage. Not deep tissue therapy. Just straight-up scratching. Who’s in? 

At first, I thought, there’s no way this is real. But it is. And apparently, business is good. 

The article threw out some vocabulary too:

• Touch deprivation

• Touch starvation

• Skin hunger

Skin hunger sounds like a bad energy drink, but it’s real. And when we don’t get enough healthy touch, the effects stack up: depression, anxiety, stress, trouble sleeping, and even lower relationship satisfaction. Basically, when no one hugs us, life gets harder.

So What’s Going On?

We don’t practice physical touch like we used to. Fewer hugs, fewer high fives, fewer handshakes. So, to feel something, we’ve reduced ourselves to digital touch swipes, taps, likes, and scrolls.

Here’s the twist: the back scratchers and the digital platforms spotted the exact same hunger and figured out how to cash in.

• One charges you $75 to scratch your back.

• The other keeps you glued to your screen with endless little digital “touches.” Then collects and sales your data. 

The problem is we’re scratching the wrong itch. We’ve traded physical touch for digital touch.

How Many Times Do You Touch Your Phone?

Check your phone settings sometime and look at your “pickups.” The average person touches their phone more than 2,600 times a day. That’s a lot of screen fondling.

But here’s the kicker: all that digital touching doesn’t meet the real need. You can double-tap Instagram posts until your thumb cramps, but it won’t lower your blood pressure like a hug will.

One study from the University of Miami’s Touch Research Institute found that massage therapy (just 15 minutes!) reduced stress hormones and boosted serotonin and dopamine your natural “feel good” chemicals. In other words, your body is wired for real, human touch.

Try This

What if, instead of 2,600 swipes, you aimed for just 26 physical touches a day? A handshake. A hug. A high five. Holding hands with your spouse. Even a fist bump counts.

You might feel better. You might sleep better. And you’d save yourself $75 from the Miami scratchers.

Because here’s the bottom line: your phone can do a lot of things but it will never give you a hug, scratch your back, or hold your hand when you’re down. 

So lets start a new campaign called…

Swipe less. Hug more 

Here’s a link to the back scratchers if you want to check it out.  https://www.scratchergirls.com/home