Do you find yourself losing track of time when you are on your phone? Are you distracted when you are in the presence of your loved ones? Do you catch yourself spending more time on social media than initially planned? Or have you developed FOMO (fear of missing out) which is being uncomfortable with not being aware of the most recent feed updates, news, or gossip? While the use of gadgets is a must these days, poor practices can lead to a multitude of negative effects.
This is not a call to give up digital media. This is to encourage a balance between the use of technology and real-life engagements. It would be unfair to discredit digital media from all its benefits. First and foremost, it allows us to get in touch with our loved ones. We also get to do our work and stay updated with the most recent developments in the world. Here are some tips to boost and balance our online life and offline life:
TIME CHECK: Some of us need to spend up to 8 hours a day in front of our screens due to work. This is understandable. The kids too might be spending time watching educational videos but it is crucial for us to remind ourselves that there are 24 hours in a day. While there is definitely no problem acquiring new skills and knowledge through the internet, we should balance it off by doing activities that we can learn from and enjoy offline.
SPEED CHECK: We should be wary of the speed of the games or videos or whatever digital media we are consuming. When we get addicted to speed, anything in life becomes boring. It will make it difficult for us to adapt to real-life because we get so used to having everything in an instant. It affects connections in our brains negatively, leading to impatience, chronic headaches, and problems with processing and digesting information properly.
CONTENT CHECK: What is the purpose of your use of technology? Is it simply for leisure to pass time and kill boredom or are you attending online classes to hone a new skill? Be careful of what you subject yourself to. Not everything that we sink our teeth into would be good, healthy, or even true. This highlights the importance of being a literate digital media consumer.
REDUCE DISTRACTION: Choose only appropriate apps and download only those that can help you grow and harvest the best benefits during your screen time. Shopping is truly a fun activity but if your shopping apps are tempting you to spend with every sale notification, save your sanity and your wallet by disabling or uninstalling them. Your applications should be doing more good than harm.
MAXIMIZE WORK AND TECH TIME: Respect these hours and give yourself a break from things related to work – calls, chats, and emails, especially when these require you to be productive beyond work hours. Hone healthy boundaries unless it is truly an emergency. Failure to reject all these to-dos’ and allowing yourself to be consumed by the demands of digital media can take away time for more important things.
RESPECT FAMILY TIME: Do not let your family be ruled with a gadget. Remove gadgets and all other forms of distraction during meal times and bonding sessions. Train your family members, especially the younger ones like kids to prioritize family above technology.
UNPLUG, REST, RECHARGE: In the same way that we allow our gadgets to recharge, we also have to allow our bodies to take breaks. This is becoming more mindful of our bodies and its needs. If we pause and look around (oftentimes, the act of looking up to the sky is an excellent idea for relaxation), we would be reminded of how beautiful the world is. Taking the time to appreciate all these can refill our sense of gratitude for all that we have amidst the difficulty.
FIND BALANCE AS A FAMILY: Unplug and spend quiet time with family. Converse with them. Do things that can strengthen the bond like sharing stories, playing board games, and praying together.
Digital media is part of our lives. Use it to maximize the opportunities it gives us. It is our responsibility to consume it in a way that uplifts and improves our mood and overall well-being. Digital media isn’t supposed to trigger negative emotions that makes us cranky nor does it exist to push our bodies to our tipping points which gives rise to negative symptoms. It is ultimately up to us to do something about our digital well-being. We need to be able to balance our online life and offline life. This is refusing to allow our online life take too much from our offline life.
To end, I would like to pull a quote from my book, “Growing Up Wired,” it says, “No one and nothing can replace the role of relationships not even gadgets.” If you have tips and strategies about healthy digital media habits, please feel free to share these with me. – WITH PAU DE VERA