Contents
What to do to reduce the time we spend with screens
Healthy habits
We set goals such as doing sports, eating better and less ultra-processed foods, traveling more or getting rid of those toxic people around us and they bring us nothing good. However, little is said about all the damage that digital devices do to us when the truth is that we have more and more … What if the phone, the work computer, the ipad, an ebook to read and there are even those who have two devices mobile, one for the personal and one for the professional.
No matter where we look, the screens surround us, and this new year is a magnificent moment to improve our digital health. The objective is to have a technologically and digitally healthy life but as a result
Due to the pandemic, many of the activities that we used to do in person, now we do them online. We are exposed, more than ever, to screens and this can cause a abuse of them and a hyperconnectivity, in addition to causing us stress and anxiety due to the accumulation of information that we try to process in a short time.
Gabriela Paoli, psychologist and author of the book «Digital health: keys to a healthy use of technology» highlights that digital life is the biggest black hole time is running out and our greatest source of stress today, largely accentuated by health crisis that we are living
“Being aware that you spend a lot of time in front of screens is already a step but you have to put in place an action plan taking into account our values and priorities; I always tell my patients: ‘first duty and then pleasure’ “, says the expert.
For her it is also essential to try to do or lead a balanced, routine day to day, which makes us feel satisfied and proud of the life we lead: «Always remember that we are the result of our little decisions daily and the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that extra ».
10 habits to get rid of the screens
The psychologist Gabriela Paoli considers the following actions necessary:
1. Plan moments of connection and disconnection: practice digital fasting. Ideally, to get an Internet detox is to plan the times when you are going to connect and those not. At this point, it is a very good idea, for example, to do digital fasting, that is, just when we wake up, spend a while without connecting, avoid this small gesture that breaks our planning or leads us to procrastinate.
2. Clean up on social media. Over time, we accumulate in our social networks, profiles that, really, do not contribute anything and all they do is waste time. We look at them without meaning, without giving us any benefit or interest. It is time to clean up and stay only with the constructive.
3. Leisure is as necessary as teleworking. Misunderstood teleworking has made us permanently connected to our professional work. However, it is better to disconnect every so often. “You will gain mental agility, efficiency and you will be more creative,” says Paoli.
4. ¡Avoid the “chepa digital”! Raise your head from the screens. Look around, into people’s eyes, at the sky, at nature. The important thing happens in the real world, in the small and simple things of life.
5. Phones on the table, no! We tend to have lunch or dinner with our mobile on the table. However, lunch and dinner should be moments of digital disconnection and emotional connection with the couple and family.
6. Look for moments of digital silence. Mute notifications, calls. The absence of ‘inputs’ allows us to get in touch with our inner voice. Silence is health.
7. Take care of your body and mind. Healthy habits, such as playing sports or meditating, are the best way to keep techno-stress at bay. “Try to do sports without a smartwatch, without a mobile, without apps … just you,” says Paoli.
8. Practice airplane mode. With regard to digital health, it is not only the connection time that matters but also the content that reaches us, if it disturbs or stresses us.
9. Use the Internet to the right extent. The Internet should serve to make your life easier, not to take you away from the real world or the people around you.
10. At night… disconnect! Leave the screens outside the bedroom. Try not to check your devices for at least 2 hours before going to sleep. It is not only because of the connection time (which can be a lot) but also because of the type of content that affects you, all the information that reaches us generates emotions, states of mind … And in these moments we must take care of our mental health more than ever . Leave the tablet for another time. Read, breathe, visualize, meditate and dream.
The mobile on the bedside does not
As Gabriela Paoli has already said, sleeping away from the mobile is a great success: «I recommend several points: first, turn off the Wi-Fi; secondly, put the mobile in airplane mode and leave it in another room and thirdly, return to the old and healthy habits of always: the alarm clock, a good book, or listen to a radio or music program, “he recommends, ensuring that in this way you will be less likely to be tempted to connect at night and rob you of hours of rest.
According to the latest report from the Digital Society in Spain, 38% of the population already spends the same amount of time connected to the mobile phone as interacting directly with people. And it is that, recently, in 2018 the Spanish Ministry of Health included addiction to technology in the National Addiction Plan.