Three tips for digital wellness

My cellphone and I have had a rocky relationship for the past few years now. I've gone from fully addicted to fully afraid of it and back again. Screens have become our "digital pacifiers", providing us with quick shots of dopamine with likes, shares, tweets, and whatever else the kids are into these days. Next time you're at a party (remember those?) look for the guy alone and on his phone. I can almost guarantee he's feeling awkward and uncomfortable.

But what happens when our soother becomes a source of anxiety? Today, we're constantly bombarded with the bad news surrounding coronavirus, global warming, global politics and the like. For me, checking the daily news feels like getting marks back after an exam I know that I've bombed, every. single. day. Yet, almost like watching a runaway train, I have a hard time looking away. However, with some difficulty, I've been working on my cellphone-ectomy which has been reducing my overall stress levels. Here's what's been working so far:

1) Limiting my doomscrolling: if you're unfamiliar with the term "doomscrolling", it means to consume a lot of negative news online at one time. For me, it starts with checking the daily case numbers and ends with me reaching the end of the internet. It's not a good place to end up. I do NOT recommend going there. So, I'm working on checking the weekly average of cases once a week which is going moderately well. It's a better indication of pandemic progress and keeps my head on a bit straighter.

2) Giving my phone a bedtime: much like a child, my phone should go to bed before I do. I've been parking my phone on its charger somewhere far away from my bed and leaving it there for at least an hour before I go to bed. It's going just okay so far. There's plenty of research that has come out correlating screen time with decreased and poorer quality sleep and as we know, sleep is important. As neuroscientist Matt Walker said, it's mother nature's best attempt at immortality.

3) Muting notifications from non-essential apps: if it's not related to work or from someone I care about, its only purpose is to suck me back into my phone. The fewer notifications, the better.

These three tips are by no means an exhaustive list and for me the list is steadily evolving. My ultimate goal is to use my phone as the incredible tool that it is without succumbing to its addictive ways. If you hadn't guessed already, a lot of these sentiments are echoed in a Netflix documentary I watched awhile back called The Social Dilemma. It's a great watch, but it may make you want to throw your phone at the wall.

Another amazing insight into tech and social media that I cannot recommend enough is Reclaiming Conversation, a book by Sherry Turkle. She's the founding director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self and her books dive into the many effects that technology has had on our psychology and sociology. Her outlook is a bit more positive about the whole thing but it's a got some scary stuff in there.

So, if you're feeling glued to your phone these days, these tips may be of some help. Ultimately, it's important to be aware of our habits because as we become more intertwined with tech we become more sedentary. A healthy relationship with screens has now become an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. So get off your phone and go do some exercise. Your body will thank you.