Flash Exhaustion. Distraction. Burnout.
Many of us are constantly bombarded by digital information. Those working from home know all too well the difficulties of balancing work and life.
Limiting screen time, uninstalling apps, and taking a break from social media are common topics of discussion when considering solutions to these issues. But what if we took a different tack on these problems, one that focused on the enhancement of happiness through the application of technology?
My colleagues and I at the Digital Wellness Institute have been studying the effects of technology on people’s health for the past two years. The term “digital wellness” refers to the growing awareness that people need to strike balance between digital and non-digital activities. Once you’ve mastered the digital realm, you’ll be able to:
- Do your best work by focusing and going with the flow.
- Try to balance your real and virtual worlds.
- form deep relationships with other people.
- Having solid friendships both online and in real life
- Encourage positive habits in both your digital and physical environments.
- Intentional tech use can be a powerful tool for cultivating awareness and caring for oneself.
- Learn to protect your personal information and digital identity.
- Make an effort to create a supportive online community in your networks.
To find fulfillment in today’s hyper-connected world, we need to reframe our relationship with technology and come up with strategies that go beyond merely reducing our screen time.
Evaluation of Your Digital Health
How can you tell if your digital endeavors are successful?
Screen time is only one factor to consider when determining your digital health; a more comprehensive analysis is required. There are both negative and positive feelings and experiences that can be associated with technology, such as anxiety about being constantly connected, digital overload, and computer-induced aches and pains.
At the Digital Wellness Institute, we’ve conducted studies to define and quantify digital health. Based on the work of Margaret Swarbrick, we developed a picture of what it would take to thrive in the digital age in terms of eight different areas of life: productivity, communication, relationships, mental and physical health, the quantified self, and digital citizenship.
Improving Your Online Health: A Guide
When you know what you need to work on, you can start making adjustments to foster a more constructive digital culture in your everyday life. Here are some methods to help you gain success in the online world.
Productivity. To be productive in the digital age, we need to learn to tune out unnecessary noise, sharpen our focus, and strike a healthy work-life balance. It takes only two seconds to read a text message, but doing so while working on a task increases the likelihood that you will make a mistake by 50%. To make matters worse, it takes an average of 11 minutes to get back into once you’ve been interrupted. Keep your focus by disabling your phone’s non-human notifications (for example, sports, stocks, news alerts, and game prompts).
Environment.
It’s beneficial to our emotional and physical well-being to have physical and virtual environments that are clean, comfortable, and well-maintained. Distractions are more likely to enter your life if your home or workplace is disorganized. If you want to put yourself in a position and succeed, you should create and communicate clear digital boundaries to your loved ones and colleagues. It can be helpful to keep a public record of your rules for appropriate online behavior, both as a reminder to yourself and as a deterrent to others.
Communication.
The increased potential for social interaction made possible by technology is accompanied by new difficulties. Have you ever had a vital conversation phubbed (phone-snubbed) because someone needed to answer a text message? If that’s the case, try to think of a diplomatic way to express your displeasure at being phubbed. When you want to get someone’s attention while also getting your point across, humor is a great tool to have at your disposal. The line, “Did you just phub me?!” is perfectly acceptable conversational banter. Ignore my calls, if you please. Just remember that if you insist on accountability from others, you may find that you are the one being held to the same standards!
Relationships.
When relationships are superficial or fleeting, social media can be a major source of anxiety and comparison. It’s more important to concentrate on the quality of your online connections than on their quantityof anxiety and comparison. It’s more important to concentrate on the quality of your online connections than on their quantity. Unsubscribe from those who aren’t adding value to your life.
Emotional well-being.
How we choose to apply a given technological advancement can make all the difference in its positive or negative impact on our daily lives. When you’re feeling mentally exhausted, you might be tempted to waste time mindlessly browsing social media or news sites . Put pen to paper first thing in the morning and plan out your goals for the day ahead. Consider establishing a goal for the amount of time you intend to spend online, and then use your device’s settings to ensure you don’t go over that limit. to be in good shape physically. Since the beginning of COVID, the use of connected devices has increased by 46%, leading to an increase of 50% in cases of back pain and 40% in cases of neck pain. When working on a desk, it’s important to maintain an upright posture and make sure your screen is at eye level to prevent strain.
“Quantified self” To better understand oneself, the “quantified self” movement advocates the use of data-tracking apps and wearable devices (like smart watches) to measure and monitor physical and mental health metrics. The “quantified self” movement merely gives people the tools to keep track of and make sense of data like blood pressure, heart rate, and calories, which health providers have been doing for decades. To give it a go, all you have to do is zero in on a single behavior (like step count) and work on improving that metric until you see improvement everywhere else. Make an effort to better yourself, and reward yourself when you succeed.
Ethics in the digital age A well-rounded civic life in the digital realm requires skill development in areas such as respectful dialogue, cross-cultural understanding, netiquette, and data analysis.
A person with a strong orientation toward digital citizenship understands the importance of data privacy and how it affects the individual and society, is cognizant of the impact their online communication can have on others, is equipped to determine whether information found online is accurate or biased, and can effectively communicate with a variety of audiences, taking into account their differences. Doing a Google “selfie” to see what data about yourself is available online is a great way to become more cognizant of your digital footprint. Take down any public profiles you no longer wish to be associated with.
Behavioral health professionals offer troubled adolescents with a teen mental health retreat in Washington State that conducts personalized mental health programs. Such programs are modelled after an evidence-based treatment called Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). It’s a therapy that teaches people to use new skills and apply strategies that can make them change their outlook in life.
Mental health experts say that failure to address mental health issues of adolescents and teens could extend the problem into adulthood. The consequences of such failure will likely impair not only mental but also physical health when the affected teens reàch adulthood.
