I don’t know about everyone else but as I have got older life has become more like a coconut shy, things are coming at me from left, side and centre and they seem relentless.
This is not a pitch for you all to get your violins out, but I have become acutely aware that I am not the only one. This also seems to be the situation with the client group we serve.
The advancement of new technologies has revolutionised the way we work and interact in our daily lives. Smartphones and instant messaging platforms have significantly altered the traditional boundaries between work and personal life. While these technologies enable greater flexibility and remote work opportunities, they also lead to an "always-on" culture, blurring the lines between work and down time. This constant connectivity can create work-related stress, burn-out and hinder an individual’s ability to disconnect.
We just can’t seem to leave our phones alone. Recent research suggests that Americans check their phones an average of 159 times a day and I’m sure that other nationalities are similar. No doubt everyone is blaming their notifications but Dr Maxi Heitmayer a teaching fellow in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at LSE challenges this. In fact, Dr Heitmayer’s research shows that a staggering 89 per cent of smartphone interactions are initiated by the user, with only 11 per cent prompted by an alert from the phone.
If you are interested to explore your relationship with your phone why not try The Smartphone Compulsion Test. It was developed by David Greenfield, who is the founder of The Centre for Internet and Technology Addiction and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.
And when we are not looking at our phones for work, we always have good old social media. Several studies have pointed out the potentially detrimental effects of social media use on mental health. Concerns have been raised that social media may lead to body image issues, increases in cyberbullying involvement, contributes to phubbing behaviour (no I’m not going to tell you what it means 😉) and negatively affects mood. Excessive use because of fear of missing out can often lead to decreased subjective well-being and life satisfaction.
So, take a pause, get off the conveyor belt and give yourself some space and by that I also mean put down your phone. Pressing the pause button on life reduces stress and improves our health and wellbeing. We tend to self-create any number of excuses as to why we are unable to stop the treadmill of activity and instead, and we blunder on under the false pretence we are indispensable or superhuman – well newsflash – we aren’t.
All that know me know I am passionate about nature; it is the fundamental building block of the programmes we run at BTB in Barbados. Being in nature is an ideal way to take a pause. BTB’s programmes are terrific for people that have a problem switching off, which if not taken seriously are likely to lead to several psychological and physiological problems.
Finally, you don’t need to do anything to “earn” your pause, you don’t have to have a reason or a justification. Also, if you feel like you need a pause, you don’t need permission from somewhere else. You can give yourself permission, it might just save your life.
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