Turn On, Tune In, Burn Out

by

Our devices are getting better and better at monopolizing our attention, with detrimental effects on our well-being. Fortunately, there’s an increasing number of resources out there to help you take back control.

It’s become an integral part of the daily commute: board the metro, check your phone made it on with you, and bury your face in it for the duration. Some people barely look up when they alight, weaving digi-drunkenly down the platform, onto the street and hopefully (does this make me a bad person?) into oncoming traffic. One town in Germany got so concerned about distracted phone zombies they installed traffic lights on the ground, while the Chinese have resorted to painting separate lanes on the sidewalk. 

At work, you try—but fail—to make headway amid the constant ping of email and WhatsApp. You battle on till break time, surface from your PC and head outside for a cigarette and a scroll through social media. Day finally over, you flop on the sofa reading the news on your phone, one eye on the TV, the other on the kids doing homework on their iPads.  

So far, so modern life, right? But what’s it doing to our productivity, our relationships and, more importantly, our brains? 

Ever heard that casinos are windowless so you don’t notice the passage of time? Ever picked up your phone for a second, only to wonder an hour later where the time went? The similarities don’t end there: attention is the new currency and our devices use Las Vegas-style tactics to create patterns of psychological craving and reward. All those pings and message-alert dots act like small slot-machine wins, appealing to and exploiting the vulnerability of our reptilian brain, which is driven by the limbic system and releases happiness hormones like dopamine.   

Trouble is, our brain isn’t used to handling as much dopamine as it gets now. To cope, it shuts down receptors, meaning you need a bigger hit next time to get the same feeling. It’s a pattern common to any type of addiction, and one that comes at a high price. 

Dr Anastasia Dedyukhina is a coach and founder of Consciously Digital. She’s spent a lot of time investigating the neuroscience behind devices. As well as lecturing on digital wellness, she works with companies on issues like employee burnout, stress management and mental health. She explains technology accounts for 60% of work-related interruptions and that we tend to switch online tasks an average of three times in 15 minutes. Even brief distractions cost 40% of our productive time, and digital distraction costs companies an average of $10,790 per employee a year. 

For some, the cost is even higher. Digital natives for whom 24/7 connectedness is a way of life are burning out mid-20s trying to get ahead in their careers. It’s particularly pronounced in fields like tech, but by no means limited to Silicon Valley. With Barcelona’s startup ecosystem—strong on tech and life sciences—booming, big global firms moving in and demand for talent outstripping supply, nobody can afford high employee turnover these days.  

Fact is, multitasking is a dangerous myth, and not just at work. It’s probably most lethal on the roads where the cognitive distraction caused just by talking on a cellphone increases crash risk four times. Take your hands off the wheel to text, use apps, take video and photos or game (yes, it happens) and it rises considerably.

But if devices are nefarious for the adult brain, what about developing ones? It’s common to hear parental concern about how long children spend in front of a screen; the less-fortunate even complain of kids completely shutting down to all other communication, running battles over access, mood swings, defiance and tantrums. Anastasia explains that the prefrontal cortex and the ability to assess risk and exercise self-control aren’t fully developed until the mid-twenties. So it’s unrealistic to expect kids to be able to resist. She likens taking away a device to snatching back candy, saying, “It’s not their fault. Their brains have been hacked,” elaborating, “there are the best engineers in the world who sit in Silicon Valley and figure out how to keep your gaze stuck to the screen longer.” As an example, she explains how the AI that beat the Go world champion is behind YouTube recommendations for what video to watch next.  

Excessive use of technology has being blamed for disrupted sleep, feelings of isolation, anxiety, depression and difficulty socializing. Anastasia warns kids are also becoming less able to handle conflict, partly because they don’t see it coming and partly because they can’t just “swipe away” from it, citing a UCLA study that demonstrated improved emotion recognition in children after time away from devices. 

School performance and the ability to focus can also be affected. One study found students who frequently switched between different tasks and were distracted by social media while studying had lower grade point averages. Incredibly, rather than ban devices from the classroom, some institutions are actually trying to compete, adapting to shorter attention spans with more entertaining, bite-sized educational content. 

And today’s school leavers are going to need more than just good grades to see them through. The UK’s NESTA Future of Skills report predicts a 34-35% chance your job will be automated by 2033 if you live in the UK; rising, says Anastasia, to 47% in the US. She believes creative thinkers will be best equipped to survive the digital and employment revolution, but warns this—along with critical thinking and analytical questioning—aren’t being taught in schools, “When [kids] are using their devices today they’re using them as pure consumers… they just ask ‘Alexa, what’s the right answer?’” Of course, you could mitigate this by sending them to the kind of tech-free schools favored by Silicon Valley parents…

A former digital marketer whose clients included a top tech brand, Anastasia is no stranger to smartphone addiction. Before her Damascene conversion, she slept with hers and would feel it vibrating in her pocket even when wearing pocket-less clothes. Known as “phantom vibration syndrome,” this phenomenon is experienced by up to 90% of young people. But it wasn’t till her overused right thumb became painful that she realized something had to change. 

Aware that certain tech-savvy figures had ditched smartphones (for security reasons), she followed their lead. It took five months to wean herself onto a basic Nokia and she never looked back, “It was the first time that I actually had the sensation of freedom, and I didn’t realize that there was something wrong until I actually did this.” People began to compliment her on how much more relaxed she was, and interest grew. She began public speaking and coaching in corporate environments, and founded Consciously Digital in March 2015. 

From relative obscurity just a short time ago, digital wellness is fast becoming a buzzword with consumers and diverse industries. Anastasia identifies the tipping point as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the increasing sophistication of our devices and a general feeling of information overload (90% of all online data was generated in the last two years and the average person receives the equivalent to 175 newspapers worth of data a day). 

She’s at pains to point out she’s not anti-tech or out to make everyone ditch their smartphones. She does, however, advocate reclaiming control over these incredibly powerful tools so they work for us. Otherwise, she believes we’re headed for a Matrix-style reality as devices get smaller and closer to us—from fixed desktop to portable laptop to pocket sized phone to wearables like AirPods, and eventually implants and biohacking. She says, “Already lots and lots of functions of our lives are outsourced to this little device.” (The ancient among you will recall actually being able to remember phone numbers.) And it’s not just memory we’ve outsourced: algorithms now advise us what to eat, watch, who to date... 

As consumers demand more control, big tech is all over the trend, launching digital well-being platforms, gurus and apps to manage your apps. Anastasis is skeptical, however, about whether these offer more than a band-aid “The more I work with the subject, the more I see the need for more radical solutions.” She advocates Cal Newport’s philosophy of “digital minimalism” (watch his Ted talk and I guarantee you’ll quit Facebook immediately), saying, “I see more and more of people not really living the lives that they want, of technology companies becoming more and more powerful and governments unable to do anything about that.” Tentative steps are being taken, like the US Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act that aims to ban autoplay and auto-refresh content, but rapidly evolving fields are notoriously difficult to regulate, especially if governments want to avoid damaging their increasingly digital economies. 

So, How Do You Take Back Control, without Losing Your Job, Clients or Social Life?

Well, freelancers need to learn 24/7 connectedness doesn’t mean they’re in control (and that they didn’t go solo to spend 18 hours a day in email). Among other things, Anastasia recommends:

  • Invest in a consultation with a project manager to design workflows. Put systems and procedures in place—designated times to check email, attend to orders, etc.—just as if you were leaving instructions for someone else to run the business.  
  • If you work from home, set hours according to when you work best, take regular breaks and get out for some fresh air. Have a dedicated space where work and your devices stay; you’ll find it’s easier to stay focused there. 
  • Find a high-quality remote PA in a developing country (where you can pay a good salary without breaking the bank) and outsource as much as possible. 

Employees may find establishing boundaries trickier, but should know Spain recently followed France’s lead in passing the Ley Orgánica de Protección de Datos y Garantía de los Derechos Digitales. This recognizes the right to digital disconnection outside work hours, including for remote or home workers, and requires employers to provide training and awareness on reasonable use of technological tools. The law was news to everyone I asked, so you might need to be the one to bring it to your HR team’s attention.   

Parents should check the guidelines and restrictions on screens at different ages, and establish strict rules of their own. Such as:  

  • Limiting screen time, especially before bedtime, as excessive use can affect sleep from babies to teens. 
  • Establish device-free times and places, such as in the bedroom, at the table or during “family time” (which should be engaging, fun and filled with discovery for that natural dopamine hit). 
  • Try to hold off buying them a smartphone as long as possible. Once you do, use inbuilt parental controls to limit time, apps or content. Anastasia says, “Absolutely never, ever should the device be in full possession of the child.” 
  • Of course, “do as I say not what I do” never works for long, so practice what you preach. It might even help your own relationship… 

For couples, similar mutually-agreed strategies can work. Device-free times and/or parts of the house give you a chance to reconnect. The bedroom is a great place to start: let your beloved’s face be the last thing you see at night and first thing in the morning, instead of a screen.  

For more on how devices affect your brain, and further ways to get your life back, check consciously-digital.com for talks, books and digital detox retreats. Activities and events are also organized through the Meetup group. Parents can also look out for the schools program currently being developed in collaboration with Benjamin Franklin and Our Dream School.

Further Reading: 

Kate Williams is a freelance writer, editor, translator and Director of The Writer Stuff. She left her native England for Barcelona in 2003 and never looked, or went, back. When she isn’t writing or discovering all the cool stuff going on in the city, she enjoys hiking in the Catalan countryside, kayaking on the Costa Brava, and volunteers at a local animal sanctuary. You can read more by Kate here.