IN RECENT years, many of us have made concerted efforts to reduce the amount of time we spend using our devices. A 2019 study found that one in four people had made changes to how they use their tech by deleting apps, reducing notifications and consciously cutting down the time they spend on social networks. Then the coronavirus pandemic happened – and for many, such practices went out the window.
In one survey, 46 per cent of people said they had increased their smartphone use throughout 2020. According to another, internet users in the UK spent an average of 4 hours online each day in April 2020 compared with 3.5 hours in September 2019. As expected, as our in-person interactions went down, the time we spent on screens went up.
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The relationship between tech and mental health is a tricky one and far more nuanced than attention-grabbing headlines might have us believe. However, a growing body of evidence suggests possible links between the amount of time we spend on social media and a negative impact on our well-being.
Many apps are designed to grab our attention and not let go for as long as possible. “Like” buttons, bright red notifications and never-ending news feeds all help keep us fixated and employ similar methods to gambling tech. Scrolling to refresh is like pulling down the arm on a slot machine, and because the potential for new “rewards” is unpredictable, we keep pulling just in case.
For most people, the answer to this issue isn’t a digital detox: deleting as many apps as you can or cutting yourself off from your devices. Instead, balance is what will help avoid tech overload, and there are numerous ways that we can make that easier for ourselves.
Your phone’s built-in tracking features or apps like Moment can help you keep tabs on the hours you spend using tech. This allows you to see clearly whether you actually spend a lot of time on your devices or whether it just feels like you do – studies have shown that we are notoriously bad at estimating how long we spend looking at screens.
Some apps, such as Forest, can help you focus by visualising a virtual tree that only grows when you have streaks of time working, not scrolling. Others temporarily block enticing apps so you don’t fall into endless scroll-holes, which is a lot easier than constantly deleting and redownloading your favourite apps.
You should also turn off or limit push notifications. Studies show that if you look at your phone when you get a new notification, you are likely to check other things too. These are called within-phone interruptions and you can lose huge chunks of your day to them. One estimate suggests that when a task is interrupted by push notifications, it can end up taking four times longer to complete than it would do otherwise.
I also recommend moving your phone away when you need to focus or spend time with others. You have probably heard this advice before, but here’s why it is important: a 2017 study found that the mere presence of your phone can be distracting, even when it isn’t in your line of sight.
Ditching social media or your devices altogether was once a fashionable piece of advice, but not only is it unsustainable for most of us, it isn’t advisable either. Technology helps many of us manage our emotions – by using games to dispel tension, for instance, or social media to combat loneliness. As much as tech can be a source of stress, in a time when the world feels more difficult to navigate than usual, it can also be a much-needed source of relief, joy and connection.
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