Contents
Holidays without a mobile: how to heal from techno-stress
Psychology
To escape from what is already considered an addiction it is necessary to have something else in which to invest the time that gives us pleasure
Summer vacations have always been synonymous with relaxation and a disconnection from everything (and everyone). It is the moment in which each of us is dedicated to recovering and recharging batteries for September, to face the new beginning with energy and positivity. But is there relaxation in the age of hyperconnection, The social media and continuous exchange? What if the holidays become an excuse to be even more glued to your mobile?
The experts at Mundopsicologos.com give the keys to combat nomophobia and techno-stress during the holidays and explain how to implement a digital detox that can be effective both during the rest period and for the return to work.
The phobia of staying without a mobile
La nomofobia is a term recently coined, which combines the English ‘no-mobile’ and phobia, to indicate the phobia of not being connected to the mobile device, staying, even for a very short time, without the possibility of receiving communications through the mobile. Several investigations have seen that this can lead to a real addiction syndrome, similar to all addictions, to the point that someone has proposed including it among the ‘DSM V Addiction Disorders,’ the Mental Disorders Manual.
The subject who slips into nomophobia he always carries his mobile phone with him, day and night, even when he sleeps, he checks it incessantly for messages, replies, news, photographs and shared posts or others, he is alarmed if he does not receive anything and gets excited on the contrary, if he receives a notification, he develops anxiety or even panic if you do not carry your mobile phone with you, up to a real abstinence if you are deprived of it, something typical in all addictions.
The most affected, although today it is something that can happen to any type of person, are undoubtedly the Adolescents and childrenIn other words, digital natives, those born in an era already endowed with all technologies. In addition, they are the ones most at risk. This happens not only because adolescents are more expert in the use of the medium, but because the mobile phone constitutes for them an object that plays a central role at an emotional and symbolic level: it is the means through which they connect with their world and with the social group, with those who exchange opinions, with those who share the image of themselves on Facebook or Instagram, with whom they control and contact, in their first emotional relationships.
Depending on the responses they receive, it is the means by which they measure their Self esteem Or, conversely, that it can isolate them from the world if the world is too frustrating. All of this can be applied to the adult as well, but finds exceptional ground in the narcissistic fragility of the adolescent.
How to know if we suffer from techno-stress
El techno-stress generally refers to the intense stress caused by excessive exposure to technological tools, generally for work reasons. It is a term used primarily within business and labor policies, which was first coined in 1984 by Craig Brod. Since then, a considerable amount of literature has been produced and the impact of techno-stress on the worker has certainly grown; Today, with the pandemic, we have reason to believe that it will inevitably continue to grow. It is recognized when the subject passes an excessive number of hours exposed to technological means, like the computer.
Brod recognized two forms of techno-stress: that of the beginner, struggling to accept this workload, and that of the more prepared person who has identified with the environment. People can develop physical symptoms of overload such as insomnia, appetite disturbances, alcohol dependence or overeating, or psychic symptoms such as anxiety, depression, asthenia, a wide range of symptoms, and a general deterioration in quality of life.
Vacations can represent a risk because the subject has more time available, or loses his usual points of safety and reference, and therefore takes refuge even more in the mobile phone and in the protected world of psychic retirement that it carries. But we must not forget that vacations can also represent an opportunity. Let’s see how and why.
Reset on vacation
The recommendations to turn vacations into an opportunity to combat nomophobia and techno-stress are not easy because as we have said that it is, at advanced levels, about addictions real.
To escape an addiction it is necessary to have something else to invest in, from which to derive another source of pleasure and narcissistic supply: holidays, but also post-holidays, can become an opportunity to broaden interests, seek other sources of encouragement which can be both activities, human relationships, or even a different relationship with oneself, with one’s own image.
Children, who we have seen as the highest risk, should stay with reference adults and with other children, do not leave them alone in front of a mobile. Adolescents, on the other hand, the speech is more delicate. Because here the intervention of the adult is usually less listened to, although it is always essential that parents do not shy away from a child who lives withdrawn on their smartphone, but rather make their presence feel alive, even though this is a controversial presence.
As for workers who suffer from techno-stress, everything would go through trying to change company policies in favor of times, schedules and tasks more compatible with the human capacity to manage the load of information, and seduction, that new technologies entail. , taking into account from a psychological point of view that technologies will always have a double face for us: on the one hand they can develop skills and creativity, but on the other they can inhibit them by inducing addictions and psychic withdrawals in fragile and predisposed subjects.