Is your brain a ticking time bomb?
'The typical office worker now checks email more than 50 times a day, visits more than 40 Web sites, and instant-messages 77 times.' (www.lenorerobinson.hubpages.com)
With people dividing their time between things of old- work, relationships, home, health and children; with technology added to the mix- it means that our brains have to now include Facebook, email, Instagram, texts and sometimes it all just gets too much.
For instance a day in a journalist’s life.
Get into work, check emails, tweet articles, post on Facebook, answer phone, write more articles, send text at lunchtime, drive home, check phone for Facebook updates……
You get the idea- there are so many opportunities in the day, especially when you are writing for social media to dip in and out of it and sometimes you can forget what you were doing and where you were up to.
Also known as the ‘Monkey Brain’ by Buddhists (Cosmopolitan) - this is where your attention is divided been so many different things- that you can’t concentrate for long on any one of them. There are so many things popping up online that it’s hard to focus your energy on one thing and one alone.
This has a direct impact on tasks that people are doing when they are not glued to their phone or their commuter. Sadly, this addiction to snippets here and there on the internet is making us less satisfied with our lives offline.
With many young people staying with their parents for longer- sometimes social media can be a way of having control over an area of life, unlike their bank balance or their chance of getting a mortgage. It is argued that social media can make people insecure and doubt themselves because people paint the perfect picture of themselves online and this can lead to yet another source of unachievable expectations.
The fact is- our brains need time to rest just like our bodies, to process our day and all the things in it. Without that detachment- other than when we are asleep- our brain is not being given a chance to recoup.
Tips to unplug
Stare out of the window
Let your mind go blank for a little while so it can slow down. If you are sat a computer make sure you do this regularly.
Phone don’t text
Instead of shooting over a quick text to someone- call them or pay them a visit- it’s much more personal and gives you quality time together.
A holiday free of WI-FI
Some people can’t go away without knowing that they have access to all their favourite TV shows and to the internet. So if you want to give your brain some time off then book a holiday where you know that none of that is available. Just each other, a good book and the rest. It will make you look more critically at your usage when you get back home-believe me.
Social life
Make a plan and don’t make amendments to it over social media. This can be a real problem, when not everyone is accessing theirs at the same time and people get left out or behind. Make a decision and don’t deviate from it. Social media can be a encourager of indecision.
Make some social networking rules
If you don’t monitor your usage- then often you don’t even recognise when it’s become a problem. Set yourself boundaries- a small window when you allow yourself to indulge a bit and don’t go beyond them or it will slowly dominate your life all over again.
Do you feel overwhelmed by all of the information you are faced with on a daily basis? Or has it not affected your life in the slightest? We want to hear your thoughts!
Source: www.edition.cnn.com