New Year, New You, Digital Wellness

The beginning of the year prompts many of us to devise resolutions for healthier living. Sometimes we're pretty strong out of the gate, only to burn out by February. The last few years, instead of resoluting (<< I made up that word), I have taken time to reflect...I've reflected on how I feel, things I do that elevate me, and those that don't. This year, I reflected on all the changes I made both personally & professionally throughout 2019 to become a healthier me, including my digital habits.

Since digital citizenship is always on my mind, I was thinking that this year, we might just forgo the gym memberships and diets and instead focus on a different aspect of our life that sometimes feels overwhelming and adds (or subtracts) from our overall health and wellness.... Our digital life.

Digital health & wellness refers to our physical and emotional health related to living life in the digital world. A few examples of poor digital health include:

• lack of sleep from late-night device-use
• anxiety provoked by a constant stream of notifications
• negative emotions we feel from any number of social dynamics in digital spaces.

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Have you experienced one (or all three) of the above repercussions of excessive (or regular) technology-use? Personally speaking... all three. 🙋🏻‍♀️

Before committing to new digital habits, I recommend first taking time to reflect on your current ones. Why? Because "reflection is the mediator between knowledge and experience." When we think about an outcome (such as sleepless nights and terrible next-days) and reflect back on the decisions (like mindless scrolling), we can make connections that help us to make better decisions the next time.

Here are 6 questions we can all reflect on in the new year... parents, teachers, and students.

1. Nightime Habits - How often do you stay up too late, distracted by your phone/device?
2. Device Anxiety - Have you ever felt anxious or “twitchy” when you were off/away your device for a while?
3. Healthy Limits - How much time per day do you think is a good (healthy) amount to spend on your phone or online each day? Do you use your phone about that much, more, or less?
4. Human Connection - Have you ever felt ignored by someone IRL (in real life) because they were looking at their phone/device? Have you ignored someone else?
5. Content Overload - Are you overwhelmed by the amount ofdigital communication (texts, emails, DMs) you have waiting for your reply?
6. Social Media - Does social media ever affect your mood? Do you ever feel down after spending too much time scrolling your feed? Do you know why?
   
   

Get a PDF version of the 6 Reflection Questions.


After reflecting on our habits, we can decide what kind of actions we want to take next. Here are a my top 8 ideas to get started:

• Try a brief digital detox (there are a few different variations - Google knows a lot about it :) )
• Buy an alarm clock and start charging your phone OUTSIDE of your bedroom each night.
• Batch emails, texts, and other digital communication - reply only at certain (pre-determined) times of day.
• Use a timer for social media use. STOP when the time is up!
• Remove certain apps from your phone - the ones that you spend waaayyyy too much time on. You know the one(s).
• Keep your phone in your purse (or murse, or fanny pack, or backpack) when not in use, especially during time with family and friends. A pocket doesn't work quite as well because it's still "on your person." 
• Get friendly with the "Do Not Disturb" feature on your device. 
• And above all, be aware of your emotions when using technology... especially social media. Know when to put it away. Know when to take a deep breath. Know your limits. 

Here's to a happy and healthy new year... may we all take one step forward toward increased digital wellness!

​Cheers,
​LeeAnn

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Image Source: https://pixabay.com/en/boys-girls-kids-children-playing-3350811/ ​