A Little Success Story on Digital Wellbeing
Consistent gentle reminders for mental wellbeing go a long way
Hello Stackers! If you’re new to Self Love Bites, welcome home! If you’re old as gold, thank you for being here! This month’s topic is on technological devices that rule our lives.
I have a little success story for you today. I’ve been following After Babel on Substack! Jon Haidt and his team mates’ vision aligns with mine in terms of increasing mental wellbeing especially among youth. One of their previous post states,
We are starting to accumulate more data, and we are seeing that young people are reporting worse mental health than all other age groups in nations all over the world. (After Babel)
According to this site, the average Smartphone usage time today in the US is 5 hours and 24 minutes, in fact in the extreme spectrum some users even tend to use their Smartphones for more than 7 hours.
According to another site, the average American spends 4 hours and 37 minutes looking at their phone every day. That quickly adds up over time to about 1 day every week, 6 days every month, and 70 days every year.
Last weekend I was at an event organized by a group of young volunteers who are passionate about mental health and wellbeing. One of the volunteers, a third year university student told me that increasingly the students have been jumping off the buildings to their death. “The students were constantly under a lot of stress,” she said.
As it is, life in cities is busy and stressful. Everyone has become busy with work, life, studies or paying bills. The burden and responsibilities that very young students carry on their shoulders is too much if they lack mental resilience. Ending their life means giving up, which is not the solution to life’s problems.
So then how can young people build resilience and face life’s problems?
The answer lies in awareness and habit formation. Here’s a post from last month.
Create Healthy Habits
Every since last summer, I’ve tried to lower my exposure to EMFs from my laptop and smartphone. I’ve gotten into the habit of listening to podcasts and videos while I’m doing chores around the house. That way I’m far from the sources of EMFs.
I realized how much I enjoyed listening to podcasts and learning more about the world and myself. Learning makes me happy.
What I also started doing was not looking at my smartphone for the first hour upon walking up. I use that time for exercising, communing with nature, praying, mentally organizing myself and my day.
On Wednesdays and Thursdays, my boyfriend and I have started going to work together. We talk to each other and try not to use our phones while we’re together on our commute.
Here’s what increasing awareness of my digital habits has done to my phone usage time.
It’s dropped my daily average screen time over the past week to 2 hours and 25 minute!
It makes me proud to have spent 1 hour 25 minutes less than the previous week! It means I was more present to people and other things in life. Prior to this my lowest average time on my smartphone was over 3 hours.
My anxiety levels have gone done. I’m happier because I’m doing little personal projects and networking, which has really helped me gain clarity about what I want to do next.
What you could consider doing:
It’s not too late to join the phone free Friday, as long as you start somewhere. Remember that we’re creatures of habit. We didn’t get addicted to our phones overnight. Give yourself time and keep working on keeping away from your phone. In the meantime, cultivate healthy habits.
Spend time with your loved ones. Or start reading that book you have been putting off. Begin that project that is collecting mental dust in the corner of your mind. Or go for a coffee or a long walk with friend.
Thank you for reading!
About Me
I, Neha Sonney, am the author of Wired For Self-Love: 11 Strategies To Free Yourself From Your Past, Embrace Your True Identity & Develop Unshakeable Confidence. I help people be honest with themselves, expand their comfort zones, become the people who love themselves and know how to respect themselves. If you’re considering bringing a real, lasting change in your life, reach out to me at optimysticoachk@gmail.com. Book a consultation here.