Habit Shift: Ensuring Digital Wellness

Despite my best intentions, I've found myself more and more connected to the internet whether it's because of work, watching a show, researching or browsing for an object that I want to buy.

As my screen time continues to hover high above my comfort zone, I'm starting to see the impact on my quality of life.

For one, my life is starting to feel more and more superficial. The lack of consistent real physical engagement with others and my surroundings, no matter how simple, is causing a loss of depth.

As a result, I'm no longer feeling grounded within myself.

In the internet world, we can click through things instantly. We don't read, we scan. We become good at getting what we want. We consume. For the most part, we don't really engage.

The online world is structured around getting us to what we want quickly but at a loss. Like fast food, what we're digitally consuming and the way we are consuming it isn't necessarily good for us.

And just like fast food, our overconsumption eventually catches up with us.

For me, I've noticed I haven't been feeling happy lately for no apparent reason. And after reflecting on this for the past few days, I realised that this stems from the fact that I don't feel grounded within myself.

Somewhere in the midst of too much information, too much accessibility, and easy entertainment - I lost touch with myself and what truly grounds my relationship with the world to make it real.

Do you find yourself feeling the same?

I think we all know by now that digital wellness is linked to emotional, physical and mental health. Therefore it's important to set boundaries on tech use.

So I've decided to apply a more structured approach to my screen time to promote digital wellness and here are the tips that I'm following.

• Schedule your screen time intentionally. Set goals and once you've achieved them, turn the computer off and do something you miss doing out in the real world. I've been taking a lot more short walks lately just to reconnect with my thoughts and the world around me.

• Get rid of apps you no longer use to make the apps you do use easier to find. Organise your apps according to priority so you don't waste time searching for them.

• Remove all unnecessary notifications from your phone and unsubscribe from all newsletters that clutter up your email box.

• Consume only content that you love and curate it so that you are only reading things that inspire you and inform you but don't overwhelm you.

• Add popup blockers to your browsers so that you protect yourself from intrusive ads.

• Lastly, take the time to block and unfollow, who and what doesn't spark delight and only follow people who make you feel inspired, balanced, informed and motivated.

What are your favourite ways to maintain your digital wellness?

Photograph by the talented Vlada Karpovich.