Every good thing has its other side. I recently realized that I didn’t just love my devices but I was addicted to them. You may be wondering how? Here are a few scenarios of how mobile/electronic devices are addicting users. I hope you’re not a victim.
I carried out an inventory of the devices I interact with daily and wouldn’t hesitate to add more but then I realized it’s no longer healthy. Is it something to be worried about? I guess YES! (That’s me speaking to myself).
Well, I first owned a mobile phone when I was senior three (as per the Ugandan education system) and later owned my first laptop while at university. By then, internet access was very limited, and buffering was the trend. I can't remember if I knew what the term Wi-Fi meant. We could use Ethernet cables for internet connection. I remember using my first laptop and flip phone for academic purposes only. I couldn’t even afford to buy airtime since it was very expensive to make a phone call as both the caller and receiver were charged that airtime. Ha! Now someone reading this may be calculating my age …
With all this said, the digital transformation changed all this history in that internet access became (and is still becoming) affordable to many parts of the world. It is now difficult to operate a household or workplace without Wi-Fi since most IoT devices in our homes and workplaces require an internet or Bluetooth connection. This has brought in efficiency. However, with over-usage and reliance, aren’t we becoming digital addicts?
Confession time:
- Scenario one: I tried disabling notifications and turning off all notifications from my phone and other devices except email and mobile money transactions. However, I noticed that every 10 minutes, I get the urge to check my phone or look for it if it was not in my vicinity. It was as if the brain had been programmed to check the phone even if nothing had popped up!
- Scenario two: I set my devices to Do Not Disturb (DND) at particular timeframes to enable focus time and to have quality sleep. However, on various occasions, I checked the phone repeatedly. It's like we no longer have quiet time or time to unplug as your favorite podcast may be premiering or a TV show may be airing in real-time. Instead, we feel compelled to grab our phone when at dinner or when having fun. During my travels, I’m usually challenged by not having cash with me because I am accustomed to making mobile money transactions. It's not easy to be device-free and we are paying the price by becoming addicted to digital devices.
I spare some of my free time to educate children on cyber hygiene practices and one of the things I advise children to do is to minimize screentime.
Innovation brings about efficiency, which is an excellent way of automating mundane tasks and executing them promptly. The downside of these technological advancements is that they have created a culture of continuous connectivity which now feels like digital addiction.
So, in the search for digital sanity, I landed on a book titled “Digital Minimalism,” authored by Cal Newport, where he argues that “Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our technology. It's the key to living a focused life in an increasingly noisy world.” Unlimited exposure, especially to social media, manipulates our moods.
Technology is intrinsically neither good nor bad. The key is using it to support your goals and values, rather than letting it use you instead.
As digital trust professionals, it's our responsibility to recommend best practices and fresh practices to our stakeholders, and with this, we can adopt the following to take control of our digital lives.
- Practice digital minimalism: Implement periods of intentionally limited technology use.
- Unplug: Arrange a time to work out with a friend, take a walk, hike, play a sport – do anything that doesn’t require having a mobile device with you.
- Stop “sharenting”: In this day and era, we tend to believe that parents should be cyber aware about keeping their children’s privacy. However, it is not always true that the people who know better, do better. And the consequences can be serious.
- Privacy begins with you: Avoid the urge to post everything online: Keep what should be private, private.
- Leverage safeguards: Do not disturb and focus time options on your devices and applications were invented for a reason.
- No phones at meal time: Swap the highlights of your social media news feeds for a meal with someone in your home and all phones should be off the table.
- Limit unnecessary content consumption: This will improve your productivity and you will ably accomplish tasks within set deadlines.
- Rest: Avoid today’s pressure of staying online 24/7. Resting is important – excessive use of technology is associated with a higher risk for depression and anxiety and causes structure changes in the brain.
- Minimize screen time approaching bedtime: Reclaim the last hour before bed as a technology-free time to improve your sleep. Initially, you may want to commit to this for just three nights in a row to see if you notice a difference in your sleep. Often small and concrete goals can lead to better results.
- Think: Use your brain to think. Excessive use of technology is believed to hinder our memories. Try memorizing the phone number of a close friend or family member. Write down on paper something you learned that you want to remember.
- Not all notifications are critical: Turn off most – if not all – alerts and notifications on your phone. Practice scheduling an amount of time to focus on one task and do not check your email, messages or notifications until that determined time has finished.
- Be intentional: Prioritize how you use your time to improve your digital behavior.
- Social media detox: Do a digital detox every so often and you will appreciate the reset.
- Clear the clutter: Discard or trade in all the devices that you don’t necessarily need.
To summarize, use technology without losing control of it and become the master of your devices and digital usage.