Part Two
In last week’s column, we began to answer the letter of Sheila S. who asked us whether there was such a thing as social-media addiction. More important, she was concerned that she may be addicted to social media.
We got some help from Peter Economy, whose article “Addicted to Social Media, Science Says These Are a Sure Sign You Have a Problem” in Inc.com was very enlightening.
He began by saying that digital incentives from their smartphones—text messages, photos, videos, social-media sites—have replaced the water cooler as the main distraction at work.
Economy said that while “these distractions create inefficiencies on the job and add costs to the bottom line, the widespread and growing use of smartphones is creating a more serious problem: the breakdown of social relationships at work.”
But how do you know you are a social-media addict? In the article, psychologists Mark Griffiths and Daria Kuss, answering “yes” to a few of these six questions probably means you are:
- Do you spend a lot of time, when you are not online, thinking about social media or planning to use social media?
- Do you feel urges to use social media more and more over time?
- Do you use social media to forget about personal problems?
- Do you often try to reduce your use of social media, without success?
- Do you become restless and troubled if you are unable to use social media?
- Do you use social media so much that it has had a negative impact on your job, relationship or studies?
In this column, we go a step further by discussing possible ways of achieving digital detox with some assistance from Jeff Bercovici.
In an article “Want a Healthier Relationship with Technology in 2019? Try These Resolutions” in Inc.com, Bercovici seemed to read our minds.
“We love our technology. But we also resent it,” he said. “It comes into our lives and makes them better, but, eventually, it changes us in ways we don’t anticipate and don’t like.”
The truth is “very few of us want all the tech gone from our lives, but most of us crave a healthier relationship with it. We want a reset.” And he went on by sharing some tips with us:
1. Take a social-media vacation
“Many of us feel like social media has become a drain on our well-being, yet still find it hard to walk away,” Bercovici said. “That’s partly because Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are addictive by design, but it’s also because they’re free.”
One simple way around this problem “is to take a temporary hiatus. Psychologically, it’s easier to contemplate giving up something for a few weeks than doing it forever—even if you’re likely to arrive at the end of that break feeling like quitting for good would surprisingly be painless.”
2. Turn off notifications for basically everything
“Shutting off alerts from all of your apps is the simplest and most regret-free way to restore a large measure of your digital sanity,” Bercovici said. “Even calling them notifications is buying into the fiction that they exist for your convenience rather than the app makers. Call them what they are: engagement prompts and growth-hacking tricks.”
3. Stop wearing your wearables
Bercovici believed that “wearable fitness trackers are not unlike social media. When you start using one, it’s easy to grasp the benefits, from more physical activity to better sleep.”
The problem, which he wrote about, “is when they become a daily habit, when you give companies a large amount of data about your personal behaviors plus you have to charge them all the time.”
Instead, he suggested “saving the wearables for when you have a specific purpose for them, like losing weight or training for a race.”
4. Establish no-phone zones
WithouT question, “smartphones are the world-changing invention of the 21st century so far. The quality that makes them so indispensable is also what makes them so nefarious: They do everything—cooking, driving, watching TV, exercising.”
In fact, “it’s hard to think of an activity you can’t use a smartphone for or at least in conjunction with. But in 2018, even the smartphone makers acknowledged we should all be looking for ways to reduce our screen time.”
Bercovici suggested we establish “phone-free zones” to reboot our tech behavior.
Carol Sankar agreed and said “you may underestimate how much time you spend on your phone and the impact it has on your business.” And may we add your life.
In addition, “the nonstop lack of discipline also allows you to spend more time confirming your ears, insecurities, and doubt as other people’s filtered highlight reel and negative stories appear at your fingertips. Most of the notifications on your phone do not require your immediate attention, yet we have become consumed with every “ping” and “buzz” that goes off throughout the day, filled with distractions that interrupt productivity.”
In an Inc.com article “Why Your Phone May be Your Biggest Roadblock to Success,” Sankar suggested three ways to turn it around:
- Set a time to check your phone. Sankar suggested that you do not check your phone when you wake up, as it “alters your mood.” Instead, “set an alarm on your phone to hold yourself accountable so you can get back to important tasks to grow your business.”
- Automate, automate, automate. This step, Sankar said, “will help you be more efficient with time.” She suggested you use tools such as Monday, Hootsuite, and Mailchimp to automate your e-mail or social-media posts. Or consider hiring a social-media coordinator to help you manage posts, direct messages, and responses, as a way to filter out the posts and e-mails that require your immediate attention.
- Respond at the end of the day. Sankar herself responds to her e-mails between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. unless it is urgent. She found it helpful to “use the last part of your day to respond to posts and messages.”
We hope these tips will help you better manage your relationship with technology and social media. You’ll be surprised how clear thinking can lead to more creativity, efficiency, focus, and closer relationships with friends and family.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for Marketing and Communications of SM, is the former local chairman.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer the reader’s questions about public relations. Please send your comments and questions to askipraphil@gmail.com.
Image credits: Freepik.com