Over the past 20 years, digital technology has been on the rise. Social media networks, my spaces, websites and emails have been growing. These have profoundly changed how humans in this century interact with one another. The numbers using digital technology have been on the rise and are anticipated to increase greatly. This is what we call the digital age.
The digital age has a handful of advantages; faster transfer of information, better connectivity, sharing ideas, online learning and so forth. Information, news or gossip can find you at the comfort of your home or office. Some advantages right there.
However, there is lots of noise, misconceptions, misinformation and unfiltered news that easily reach us and can do more harm than good. This is why it is important to strike a balance between our individuality and the growing digital age and technology. In this article, we have organized how to go about this.
Read on to find how:
To start with, you are not alone if the constant messages, misconceptions and unfiltered news in this digital world overwhelm you. Many people find the digital age stressful and majorly overwhelming. This is not an assumption because studies have been done earlier and came to this conclusion.
A systematic review research showed that people who used social media especially Facebook had signs of anxiety, stress and depression. This is because social media creates pressure to live and be like others, similar conditions and fame.
Not forgetting, even the people who do not dwell on social media usually have a lot of messages in their email inboxes unopened or answered. Each time you open up your email and find unanswered messages, a research study indicates that you experience a wave of frustration and stress.
Studies and experts suggest a number of methods to manage this; stress associated with technology. We have selected the most efficient ones and explained them in simpler non scientific terms to help you manage the mental unwellness.
The first step is to consider the;
Inbox zero method
The inbox zero is a method associated with keeping your inbox at zero messages at the end of each day. A mental health therapist explains that just like your cluttered home disrupts your mental fitness, so does a cluttered inbox.
Ensuring that at the end of each day, you leave your inbox at zero will help you manage the stress that is associated with full inboxes.
Choose peace of mind
While there's alot of unfiltered news and information on social media networks, you can choose what to take into your mind and what not to. According to mental health experts, we can choose what information we take into our heads and leave out more. This is possible by scrolling past information that makes you sad or elicits awkward emotions.
Do not follow or stalk people that give you an impulse to compare yourself with them. You can also decide to switch off the radio or TV when they start to talk about matters that disrupt your peace of mind.
Because you cannot always make sure to skip the things that take away your peace, after a long day of technology use, allow yourself some time to clear your mind off the things you saw on the media during the day. Just like you rest from work, rest from technology is important as it helps you strike a healthy balance between you, your individuality and technology.
On the other hand, follow people, comics and the things you love to see. A study shows that while negative interactions and experiences on social media cause stress and depression, positive experiences lower stress and depression. Minimize the negatives while you maximize the positives.
Boost your brain
Well as the previous point talks about choosing peace of mind and resting off computer technology each day for sometime, there are people who can hardly do this. This is usually dependent on the type of job one does.
There are people who work on website and apps designs and many other jobs that require use of the digital media for most of their time and taking frequent breaks will usually affect productivity. You can agree with me if you are or have been in the company of a web or app designer, one step follows another and taking breaks from technology would slow down work.
For such people, it is recommended firstly they reduce the light of their devices, use eye protection modes or lenses to customize how much blue light gets into their eyes. Secondly, such people should consider taking foods rich in anthocyanins such as berries and cocoa like chocolates. In this era, there are very many forms to obtain these for example berry and chocolate smoothies, yogurts etc. However, they are preferably taken in their natural form.
You can consider getting fresh berries and cocoa seeds. Alternatively, choose deep focus brain boosters on the market. These will help to keep you active, focused and alert but also will help you relieve stress associated with use of technology.
Set boundaries
Set boundaries on what time you can and cannot use technology. You can choose time like before bed, during food, while with family and prioritize face to face communication. Set the boundaries and stick to them for the earlier weeks. With time, your brain will become used to the pattern and will be much easier for you.
You can equally set boundaries on when your working day starts and ends. Reply to all emails within that time and after that set time, everything else on your work email will wait until morning. This will help greatly especially if you are the kind of person who has been bothered by emails popping in after work and the urge to reply. You can also set automated replies until when you are available the next day.
Take control!