Internet, e-mails, text messages, social media, collaboration apps… we are more than ever in constant and direct contact with our favourite sources of information and with our friends, colleagues and, especially, our job!
While this constant connection may be convenient and, in many ways, make things easier, it also tends to blur the boundary between our job and our personal life, and can even become a source of stress and anxiety. The hyper-stimulation of our brain by the incessant flow of notifications, our addiction to our social media feeds and even the physical posture we’re in when we scroll or flip through the pages of our favourite apps can have adverse effects on mental well-being as well as on our physical health.
Pick up the “Drop & Ignore” habit
One of the tips often suggested to prevent over-eating is to put down our utensils between each bite. This simple trick could very well work for stemming our digital addiction, couldn’t it?
When you think about it, the idea isn’t so far fetched. Why indeed couldn’t we just put down our connected devices at pre-established periods to curb our information intake and enjoy some quality time with real persons from our entourage or even just with ourselves? There is, after all, a plethora of studies that identify digital disconnection as a fundamental condition to achieving optimal work-personal life balance.
With this in mind, we want to share with you a few tips you can try to shield yourself from the negative impacts of hyper-connectivity and information overload on your health and your general well-being:
Program limited connection periods
The “Do not disturb” function of today’s smart phones allow you to program periods during which only incoming communications from people you choose and messages from specific applications will trigger ringtones, alerts or notifications. You can even program multiple periods, each with different, specific restrictions.
Establish tech-free zones
Identify places where no one is allowed to bring and use connected devices, like the dining room at meal time, the patio, the pool deck, the bathroom, the bedroom, etc.
Do real stuff instead of virtual activities
Instead of spending your free time or your evenings scouring social networks or playing virtual games on your phone or tablet, use that time to enjoy genuine, unconnected activities like reading actual books (the ones made of real paper!), put together jigsaw puzzles, play board games with your friends and family, do some handy work, cook, do some sport, etc.
Live in the moment
Enjoy your moments of relaxation and leisure with yourself (no need to share your culinary experiences on social media, for instance). Above all, always give priority – and your attention – to the persons who are physically with you rather than to virtual interactions.
Disconnecting at work?
As counterintuitive as this may sound, it is in fact sometimes desirable or even necessary to disconnect or, at the very least, to restrict our connections when we’re at work. Indeed, the constant influx of notifications and impromptu communications can hinder our capacity to concentrate and therefore make us less efficient, not to mention the stress that may result from having to make up for the time such intrusions make us lose.
The following suggestions are practices that employees and management could agree to put forth in order to insure that hyper-connectivity does not become an obstacle to the whole personnel’s efficiency and well-being:
- Agree on periods at which employees can mark themselves as unavailable so they can concentrate on a task without being interrupted.
- Limit the number and duration of virtual meetings.
- Schedule the sending of non essential or non urgent e-mails at specific times so as to limit the flow of incoming messages.
- Establish no-connection zones (cafeteria, break rooms, gym, rest rooms) and periods (breaks, lunch time, in-person meetings).
- Include one’s work and availability schedule in one’s e-mail signature.
Of course, the above are only suggestions. By working together in a spirit of global efficiency and well-being, managers, supervisors and employees can come up with solutions, practices and policies of their own to achieve a proper balance between connectivity, efficiency and well-being.