How many times a day do you pick your phone to browse through notifications and social media? Countless!
How many minutes of your valuable time do you spend using the web and apps? A lot of your time! Perhaps more than what you give to your beloved body!
We are not here to question you. We instead want you to ask yourself, what are you doing to your life with the gift of technology that the human brain has invented. Of course, digital technology- your mobile, the web, ‘Google’ and the glittering social media have very much become a necessity of our lives. But we are overusing them to the extent that we are drawing more negatives rather than benefits out of them.
Digital well-being is the idea of using technology to benefit one’s mental, physical, and emotional health and restricting it from trespassing your personal time that should be devoted to your family, body, or skills.
How To Establish Digital Well-Being?
- Set a timetable for the day and night time routine
Set a time limit to restrict the amount of time you spend using your phone and the web. You can set your daily time to use your phone to browse at only some specific period of the day and for urgent needs.
At night, put down your phone at-least thirty minutes before your sleep time. Looking at screen and exposure to mobile radiations before sleep disturbance, the balance of sleep hormones viz. cortisol, melatonin, and testosterone (in men) and oxytocin (in women).
There Are Apps To Do It….
- Use Apps That Track And Restrict Screen Time:
If you are not able to stick to the set timetable, some apps keep a record of your time spent on apps and restrict it by informing you when you cross the limit or lock it after the limit is over. Google Digital Well-being is one such app.
- Pull Down The Curtain On Notifications:
Certain apps restrict the notifications from popping up after a set time. This saves you from the constant distraction. You can also manually restrict notifications by changing the app settings.
- Use night mode or grayscale: Both are soft-wares that reduce strain on the eyes and make the screen less appealing, thereby helping to reduce screen time.
- Ditch The Smartphone?
We understand this may sound ‘toooo harsh.’ You may argue what’s life without WhatsApp and Fb, but if you really want to do away with screen time, going back to good ol’ phones can help.
- Digital Detox
If you cannot switch to the other side with all the above information because you are too addicted, there is a digital detox program to help you de-addict. It is shoeing away all technologies from life for a specific time, say a week or more. These ‘digital detox tours’ are very much a reality, and you will find one near you! They set a space for you to spend quality time, have fun without any technology!
