It’s all around us. We have smart homes, smart cars, smart TVs, smart phones. Everywhere you turn from your home, work, car, pocket, technology is there and is ever connected. As a society, we have become so dependent on technology that new terms and symptoms have arisen such as “technostress,” social media anxiety, smartphone addiction and more. It seems the more we’re connected, the more technology stress we accumulate and the more we disconnect from the personal relationships around us.
What are the symptoms of technology related stress and anxiety? There are many signs, most of which are similar in nature to any stress or anxiety related problem. They include:
- Physical traits such as neck and back pain, eye strain, rapid heart rate, etc.
- Emotions such as frustration, depression, irritability, loss of tempter and more.
- Behavioral changes such as insomnia and social withdrawal.
In fact, there are an array of new studies that suggest technology may be impacting our brains in more ways than just intake of information. In a recent study presented to the Radiological Society of North America, overuse of technology can create changes to the chemistry in the brain similar to any addiction.
While technology can be helpful and efficient in so many ways, too much of a good thing, to use an old cliché, can be bad for you. We’re not advocating giving up technology. Quite to the contrary. However, overuse can lead to health issues. So, here are some tips you may want to take to reduce the stress and anxiety associated with use of technology.
1. Take Breaks
At work or at home, if you’re involved in a long project that requires the computer or you’re planning a marathon gaming session, it’s healthy to take breaks at points where there is a natural break where you can do so. Getting away from the screen will allow you to re-energize and re-focus. Spend your break time walking, talking to people or anything else that will take your mind off the project for the moment.
2. Limit Time
While this is difficult work related projects that have deadlines (in those situations, take breaks), for social media, gaming, smartphone use, limit the timeframes you dedicate to those activities.
3. Disconnect
For some people, that may seem heretical. However, you don’t need to be on all the time. Switch to Airplane Mode when dining out, at a concert, movie or other events. Leave the tablet behind when meeting with family friends. Don’t take the phone on to the gym floor. In other words, relish the moment. Focus on the event, the people you’re with, the activity you’re involved in, without the constant bombardment of chiming alerts and distractions.
4. Meditate and/or Exercise
Meditation and other exercises can help take your mind off of the immediacy you feel when connected. Deep breathing exercises, Yoga, Tai Chi, aerobics, running, cycling, etc. can all help reduce stress, rejuvenate and reduce tension in your muscles.
5. Reduce Posts
While social media allows us to share information with our friends and followers, it doesn’t mean that every little thing you do is worthy of that activity. Posting every little thought, personal activity, picture or video can have the opposite effect of what you’re intending. For your friends and followers, getting those constant updates and alerts can seem like being in a one-sided conversation that goes on-and-on. Eventually, people just start to tune out.
6. Write Things Down
Is it anachronistic to simply grasp the nearest pen and promulgate one’s thoughts on a single leaf of paper? Technostress is almost universally composed of intertwining one’s life with the vicissitudes of a machine. Rather than schedule Google appointments, take a second to add an additional reminder in your journal. Rather than discourse with your laptop about daily meanderings, write instead on a far more enduring celebrant of memory – The pages of an old-fashioned planner or journal. When writing traditionally, a connection between perceptual understanding or interpretation connects with motor execution, creating neuron connections that are far more resilient than fingertips to the keyboard.
7. Desist with Multitasking
The idea that multitasking is effective is an egregious fallacy. You may, indeed, complete more tasks within a given timeframe, but all will be done with less attentiveness; and therefore require additional intervention in the future. Close your multiple tabs, exit your numerous windows, and focus on a single task at a prescribed moment. If necessary, communicate with your supervisors on the bandwidth of you available, in order to ensure you can dedicate appropriate dedication to your given tasks.
8. Enlist in Technology Training
The scepter of new technology, misunderstood technology, can cause unnecessary anxiety. Instead of opining the introduction of tech you’re stubborn to acknowledge, identify a way of empowering yourself by attempting to understand it and its capabilities within the workplace. Through local community colleges, workplace development programs, or even broader educational initiatives; there are classes available to mollify the discordance you may feel with the implementation of new software.
9. Tech-Free Zones
While enmeshed within the office, establishing a tech-free zone may be impossible. However, in one’s domestic space, it is easier to identify an area where the intrusiveness of technology can be mollified. Constant artificial connection is unhealthy, cordon off a space in your home where you are able to enjoy your time without the encumbrance of your devices.
10. Turn Off Screens
Especially before you sleep, turn off your screens and devices. “Blue light,” or the light emitted from your screens and devices, interrupt your natural sleep cycle by suppressing the natural production of melatonin. In laymen’s terms, by sustaining the light on your device, you’re deceiving your body into physiologically believing its still daytime, a time when we’re supposed to be operational and alert. Attaining an adequate amount of sleep is essential in reducing abnormal amounts of stress.
Article was originally published on TalkaboutWellbeing.com, 5 Ways to Reduce Technology Stress.
