How to Stay SANE in an increasingly Noisy World
The entire world is currently experiencing an influx of information due to technological innovations. Every day, we wake up to a new medium through which information is being communicated. In the last two decades, the world has experienced a great change brought by technology. It is safe to say technological innovations have made our lives easier, but at the same time, we have to deal with lots of distractions, especially with the advent of social media. With social media, we have access to so much information, so much that it needs skills to appropriately manage the information to avoid getting drowned in the ocean of confusion.
If everyone is saying something at the same time, who do you listen to? The truth is that we want to be up to date with the latest happenings, so we keep refreshing our news feeds, checking WhatsApp not to miss any 'important' message(s), and so on. We do this throughout the day and that reduces the time for other important things in the real world. This is a vicious cycle and we are living the adverse effects but are yet to come to terms with this reality. If you find yourself constantly glued to your phone or any other gadget, checking what's up on social media, here are some tips that can help you to navigate through the virtual and real world without getting carried away.
1. Why do you want to make changes?
Ask yourself WHY you need to make changes. Getting worried about how much time you spend in the online world is an indication that you're not happy about it; thus, your desire for a change. Start by deciding why you feel you need this change. Your answer will determine how important and urgent it is to you.
2. Turn off your notifications when necessary
To avoid getting triggered by the constant buzzing from your gadgets, turn off your notifications when you need to concentrate on your work. The main reason why we mostly pick up our gadgets every minute is due to the notifications that keep popping up. This makes it quite difficult to concentrate because it always feels like we might miss an important piece of information.
It is for this reason that many people suffer from phantom vibration syndrome also known as ringxiety (a portmanteau of ring and anxiety) which is a situation where one feels like their phone is vibrating or ringing when it's not. Researcher - Michelle Drouin found out that almost 9 out of 10 undergraduates from her college experience this syndrome. I bet you've experienced this but just didn't know there's a name for it. Many of us have.
4. Turn off auto-login/log out after every session.
Another option to reduce the number of hours you spend online is by turning off auto logins to your favorite social media. Always logout after every session. How does this help? Imagine having to input your username and password each time you want to check your Facebook or Instagram. The time and effort will make you rethink. Remember that it's a conscious effort, so you'd have to train the brain to remember that this isn't the time for this by suppressing the urge to put in that information each time you feel like it. You can also log out from your account after every "scrolling" session.
5. Take a break.
Even if you work on social media, taking a break won't spoil as many things as your mind has been programmed to think. You can always delegate your work to someone capable and then take some time off social media. Your brain and mental health will thank you for it.
Remember that if you do not control your social media activities, they'll control you. The latter is very dangerous and you don't want that. Do I need to remind you that social media and everyone else will move on like you never existed if you're no longer there? It’s the reality that we should always have in mind.
Staying away from social media as much as possible means creating more time for other more important things like spending more time with family, and going to places where you feel more energized. Concentrate on those things and do them as often as possible. Your mind will begin to want them more and you'd naturally begin to lose interest in aimlessly scrolling through social media for hours and hours.
We hope this helps you to control your social media activities and find a balance. Please share with us your thoughts on the subject and what works for you in the comments. Also, do SUBSCRIBE to our channel for more enriching content. Thank you for reading and until next time Best remains your Best Bet