Switzerland is considering temporarily cutting Netflix or Youtube to ensure service to essential activities such as teleworking. Spain, however, has already surpassed with flying colors the wild increase in online traffic, 700% in the case of WhatsApp during the first Saturday of the confinement.

There is an explanation. Spain is the first European country and third in the world in fiber optic connections. The Spanish network is larger than that of neighboring countries such as Germany, France, England, Italy and Portugal.

This brings fiber penetration in Spanish households to 74%, compared to 26% in Europe and 15% in the US.

So we are guaranteed access to the network these days, but… what if we use it responsibly?

Psychologists and experts in no way advise against the use of social networks and the Internet, as they allow us to stay in touch with our loved ones, but they do recommend caution and moderation. It is essential, for example, to disconnect from coronavirus news as overexposure to information does not make one better informed and increases anxiety unnecessarily.

Beyond teleworking hours, where the use of the Internet is essential, there are many opportunities for disconnection. Reading, writing, singing, dancing, exercising at home, doing crafts, cooking, listening to music or playing an instrument are all activities that can be done without the help of the network.

Especially when it comes to playing with the little ones, it’s time to let your imagination run wild. “If there are children, you should count on them to organize the day. They are tremendously imaginative,” says José Antonio Luengo, of the Official College of Psychologists of Madrid. In addition, reading stories to them “helps adults to enter a world of interpretation of reality that allows them to change schemes and look with optimism”.

Confinement, experts say, “is a good opportunity to take advantage of to do the things we can never do.”

Another idea on which all specialists agree is the need not to improvise, but to “have the feeling that we are in control of our lives”. To this end, it may help to draw up a sort of timetable for each household with the new ‘tasks’. Many of them will be, of course, with the help of the Internet, in many others it will be time to bring out your human side.

For example, what we have seen in the first few days reflects a significant drop in data consumption at 8 p.m., the time when applause on the balcony for healthcare professionals is becoming popular. We forget for a moment about smartphones and the Internet and move to kill a little social isolation, even if it is from a terrace.

In times of quarantine, it never hurts to disconnect (literally) a little from the networks, even if they serve to support the confinement.