Improve Digital Wellness & Attain Digital Life Balance-Tips with Infographic
Struggling to spend time with the family while receiving constant phone notifications? Overwhelmed by the deluge of news and social media feed? Or perhaps anxious about your online social appearance perpetuated by social comparison? Living in a digital age presents a unique dilemma. Unlike previous generations, we are inundated with information thrown at us like pots and pans, from multiple devices, through a plethora of services, streamed 24 hours, seven days a week. It is certainly a lot for anyone. Under such circumstances, improving digital wellness and finding an optimal digital life balance becomes the most important. But what is digital life balance and digital wellness, and how to achieve the same? Read on!
There is no denying the fact that technology has become an integral part of our lives. But is technology a boon or bane? While technology has innumerable benefits- it has connected people like never before, it has its pitfalls. When we speak of technology, mobile phones hold the lion’s share of our daily technological encounter. Mobile phones are no more being used only for communication but also are being increasingly used for banking, information sharing, learning, entertainment, social networking, shopping, computing, working, edutainment, gaming, self-expression, health & fitness tracking, photography, videos, note-taking, scheduling events, music, emails, messages, news, business, travel, editing, navigating, and much more. But amidst so many things we do on our phones and add to it other digital gadgets, getting distracted from things which matter to us the most is quite possible. One thing is clear that technology should improve our lives and not distract us from it. And here comes the role of digital wellness, which helps us find a perfect digital life balance- an optimum balance between technology and life.
“Great technology should improve life, not distract from it”
One inadvertent outcome of technology is an ‘always on’ and ‘always connected’ society perpetuated by an inherent desire for instant gratification. Our lives are increasingly being dictated by notifications and mindless scrolling of news feed. No wonder mobile phones are connected like never before and, we as human beings are growing further apart. Therefore, it has become imperative to find digital life balance while reflecting on our relationship with technology, in an endeavour to make ourselves more productive and healthy. One such attempt to help you achieve digital wellness is from google which has launched its google digital wellbeing app for android devices. (See below smartphone addiction infographic)
Recommended Read: How to Reduce Stress and Anxiety? 25 Simple Ways to Unwind from Daily Rigmarole!
What is digital wellness and digital life balance?
Digital wellness refers to our physical, mental, emotional health in the era of the digital age. Digital wellness aims at finding a digital life balance in an attempt to regulate and improve the healthy use of technology. Digital life balance involves looking at how people manage time spent with technology and without it. In other words, it means how people prioritize their time spent on digital gadgets and offline activities. Time off the technology means time for socialization, hobbies, interests, and family.
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Digital wellness and digital life balance is about controlling the time we spend on electronic gadgets like mobile phones, laptops in particular, and technology in general. Alternatively, this also means acknowledging the pitfalls of overuse of screens like physiological harms such as eye strain, headaches, psychological harms like shorter attention span, reduced productivity, and even social harm like less personalized relationships, relationship issues, etc. The idea is to limit the screen time and keep the potential damages that technology can cause under check.
Digital wellbeing is a holistic concept and talks about controlling our time spent on all the tech devices including mobile phones, laptops, phablets, other gadgets and electronic devices. It is a state of mind which calls for technological downtime at one end and more mindful offline interactions & engagements at the other. Here lies the importance of digital wellness and digital life balance.
Also Read: Responsible use of Social Media!
How are smartphones damaging your brain?
Overuse of smartphones have an impact on our overall health as depicted by the following “How smartphones affect us infographics”
Excessive usage of mobile phones or enhanced screen times:
1. Reduces attention span or causes attention-deficit
This is called the ‘goldfish effect’, which says that the internet might be shortening our attention spans. The average attention span of goldfish is just 9 seconds. And as per the new study conducted by Microsoft Corp., people now generally lose attention and interest after just 8 seconds, highlighting the ill-effects technology has on our brain.
2. Hampers your productivity
As per digital distraction experts, mobile phones hamper our productivity considerably. While there are many tools and apps which help increase productivity, their use requires diligence and intelligence.
3. Leads to smartphone addiction
Smartphones are designed to be addictive, and as a result, we spend a lot of time flicking through our phones. This addiction is a major source of mental health issues.
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4. Causes psychological arousal
The excessive urge to check smartphone notifications keeps us getting back on the screen now and then, leading to psychological arousal. As we are glued to our phones while watching the TV, eating, or speaking to family members, we are exactly doing the opposite of mindfulness. This lays a perfect ground for stress and anxiety to seep in. Moreover, this hurts the sleep quality.
5. Causes depression
This is attributed to an effect called social comparison, a phenomenon, which states that when we spend more time on social media, we undergo social comparison in our sub-conscious mind, and our happiness is dictated by the happiness of others in the process. This leads to depression- thanks to social media, we are continually being exposed to a lifestyle far more superior and extravagant than ours.
Recommended Read: Happiness is a choice, choose to be Happy!
Looking at the brighter side, these reasons are enough to titillate your minds, and by now, you are already thinking of limiting your screen time, with some of you even contemplating going for a total digital detox. While many of you are keen to start your journey on finding the right digital life balance, following our digital wellness tips will surely help you bring one step close to your holistic health.
How to improve digital wellness and attain an optimal digital life balance?
There are various digital wellness tips or digital wellbeing strategies, which, when deployed, can teach you how to control smartphone usage, provide technology-downtime, and help you focus on mental, physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. This will help you improve your overall digital wellbeing.
The following “ Digital Wellness Infographic” and “ Digital Life Balance Infographic “ clearly depicts how to improve digital wellness and attain an optimal digital life balance.
1. Be mindful when using the technology
One potent way to improve your digital wellness and digital life balance is to be mindful of the technology while using it. You can get most of this habit by the following:
Track the phone usage
There is a well-known saying that ‘whatever is tracked, improves’. Various apps give you a deep analysis of your tech usage habits like which apps you spend considerable time on, how many notifications you get, and how often you check your phone. Understanding this is the first step in your journey to digital wellbeing. When you know your phone usage analytics, you can certainly, cut back.
Create conscious boundaries
Set a limit on the maximum time you spend on a particular app. For example, if you endlessly scroll through YouTube channels, set a time limit and stop when you exhaust that limit. You will eventually end up saving a lot of your day.
Make minor changes in your home screen
This will help you declutter your mind and reduce your stress. You can try the following functionalities:
1. Make your home screen simple : Make your home screen simple by removing apps from the home screen and keeping your home screen minimal in terms of both-number of apps and a simple wallpaper.
2. Organize your apps in a folder : A screen full of apps is a serious mess, and if apps a logically organized in a folder, it will remove your distractions.
3. Change color themes : One example is changing the color theme to greyscale and avoid distractions when you want to focus, or you may choose to go to bedtime or night shift mode as and when required.
4. Remove notification dots from apps or disable the notifications : The blue notification dots, displayed on the iPhone, as a reminder of unchecked notifications, unread messages, or new updates, pressurize you, indirectly, to get back and check them. You can consider disabling such a feature when you want to relax and unwind.
5. Use search functionality : When you navigate through the phone by using the search bar, Siri, or voice assistance, you are not only more intentional about the apps you open but also alienate yourself from the distractions to open other apps while looking for the one you want.
2. Unplug from technology
In today’s ever-connected world, digital detox or unplugging from mobile phones may seem impossible on the surface of it. But with conscious efforts, you can find a perfect digital life balance that will make you feel right.
Impose curfew before bedtime
Ogling at hot Instagram models showing off booty in Maserati at night is certainly pleasurable. While night will see the crack of the dawn, new babes and booties popping up one after will be endless. The never-ending scroll-down of the phone invariably leads to prolonged exposure. Such a habit before bedtime not only disrupts your sleep but also causes long term insomnia. Put your phone off the bed at least 30 minutes before you sleep.
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Set a bedtime routine
Set a bedtime phone routine like using the do not disturb and night mode feature, dimming the screen resolution, setting the alarm, lowering the ring tone, etc. This sends a signal to your brain to prepare for deep sleep and controls your urge to touch the phone.
Turn cold turkey
You can also think of turning cold turkey by deleting few apps like Facebook or Instagram and take the leap.
Create a no-device zone and time at home
To unplug from the technology you can designate a particular time during the day or a device-free zone at home and stay away from all the temptations to check the never-ending notifications.
Indulge in offline hobbies
To counter the excess usage of mobile phones, you can indulge in offline hobbies like reading a book, or mindful cooking or gardening. It will trick you out of your obsessive-compulsive behavior to check the notifications and help you engage in your interests while making you more productive.
Also Read: 5 Cooking Experiments to do at Home!
Practice meditation, mindfulness, and gratitude
One practice that should be your daily ritual is meditation, mindfulness, and gratitude. These three, combined, are a potent antidote to stress and anxiety. This also keeps you off your gadgets for a duration of time and increases your overall digital wellbeing.
Recommended Read: Is Gratitude your Attitude?
Go for a digital detox or social media cleanse
If you are looking for a total detox, you can think of taking a complete break from technology, especially your mobile phones, for a week or so. Going completely off your phones for a week or 10 days will not only rejuvenate you but also help you focus on your relationships with significant others. (Also refer to the Digital Detox Infographic).
What is Social Media Cleanse: As the name suggests, social media cleanse means distancing yourself from few or all the social media apps! Refer to this social media cleanse infographic for 7 steps to social media cleanse.
3. Minimise distractions
The idea is to live in the moment and reduce the distractions from phone screens for increasing your digital wellness and improving your digital life balance.
Engage in conversation without bothering to look at your mobile device
Give your full attention to people when engaging in a conversation with them. This way, you will spend quality time with them and grow your in-person connections.
Out of sight, out of mind
Keep your phone out of your sight for some time to avoid distractions. A study shows when you keep your phone out of sight, it goes out of mind and helps improve your concentration, increase retention, and reduce stress.
4. Improve family tech habits
Digital life balance and digital wellness is not just related to you, but it also involves all the stakeholders in your life. And the most significant of the stakeholders in your life is your family. Follow the following tips to improve your family’s tech habits and be more prudent in your digital wellbeing routine:
Speak about technology with family
Identify healthy habits concerning the usage of technology, the do’s and don’ts, and appropriate content corresponding to the age group. This will spark productive, diligent, and healthy use of technology, leading to the overall family digital wellbeing.
Fix screen time limits for children
This calls for laying down digital ground rules concerning on-screen time limits.
Engage in tech-talk
Engage in productive tech-talk with family members on being safe, secure, smart, and kind on the internet. Tech them to be ‘internet smart’.
Suggest them good online content
Guide your family member to age-appropriate, relevant, and meaningful content that will increase their overall digital wellness.
Block explicit content
It is always a good idea to use an explicit content filter to avoid kids misusing the internet.
Explore technology together
Set aside the time for exploring technology like playing online games together with the family. This not only helps you understand their interests but also helps you grow and explore together as a family.
Make time for offline activities
Set aside sometime per week for offline family activities like swimming, hiking, or picnic at the park. You may plan this together with your family by watching an online video on YouTube.
5. Embrace Digital Minimalism:
One such concept which will help you improve your digital wellness and attain an optimal digital life balance is inculcating the idea of digital minimalism — minimizing the use of electronic devices to a bare minimum and only as per the need. This is also called digital declutter.
The year 2020 has made us more reliant on technology, and with time our dependence on technology is only going to increase by leaps and bounds. As we are more connected than ever, there is no doubt that our success and quality of life are directly proportional to technology. But it is also true that ultimate success will only come to those who will build a healthy, mindful, and meaningful relationship with technology. It is high time we take back control of our lives, focus on improving our digital wellness, and find a perfect digital life balance. Digital wellbeing is the future of healthy living, indeed!
Originally published at https://theeasywisdom.com on November 20, 2020.
