All posts filed under: Technology

Ditch Those Toxic Tech Habits and Become a Better Version of You! 

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Care to admit it or not, we’ve become a nation of tech addicts who spend more time looking at our screens each day than sleeping (on average 8 hours 41 minutes). When the average adult picks up their phone over 150 times a day, it’s hardly surprising that 69% of children say their parents spend too much time on technology. If we look at the building blocks of happiness found in Positive Psychology Professor Martin Seligman‘s PERMA model, we find five key areas we need to nurture and cultivate in order to live our most happy and flourishing life. These are – POSITIVE EMOTIONS ENGAGEMENT RELATIONSHIPS MEANING  ACCOMPLISHMENT So what’s the impact of our technology addiction on each of these building blocks? And how do our digital devices stop us feeling, thinking and experiencing happiness? Let’s take a closer look at what toxic habits we could give up in order to boost our happiness. 1. POSITIVE EMOTIONS (P) You’ve heard it before and yet you continue to watch one last episode of your favourite TV …

10 Ways to Outsmart your Smartphone

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Keep your phone on charge away from your bed It’s so tempting to check emails just that one last time before bed, or thumb straight for social media apps as soon as you’ve turned off your alarm. So put a stop to these unhealthy autopilot habits by charging your phone away from your bedside. Buy an alarm clock Yep you heard right, a battery operated alarm clock! Stave off the temptation to check emails first thing in the morning, by keeping them out of reach and don’t rely on them to wake you up! Erase social media apps You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can break the habit of automatically flicking through all your social media apps every time you pick up your phone. Remove multiple email accounts Our bosses might be livid, but surely you aren’t paid enough to be on call 24 hours a day? To be answering emails at 10pm or on the tube into work? Respect your sanity (and savour your free time) by deleting any possible email accounts from your phone now. Go on be ruthless! Check …

5 ways to limit the Stress of always being on call

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1 in 4 adults in the UK in any given year will suffer from stress, anxiety, depression or another form of ill mental health (Mental Health Foundation Report 2015), and that’s only including those who are clinically diagnosed. How many others suffer in silence or ignore telltale signs? Could this fast-paced, complex, ever challenging digital world we find ourselves living in be the root cause of our increased stress levels? A world where we’re always on call, permanently plugged in and bombarded with an endless stream of digital stimulus and distractions. Like it or not, we’re all addicted to our digital devices. Relentlessly jumping from emails to whatsapps, google searches to social media, news apps to … you get the picture, because you probably do it too. Some of you up to 150 times a day. Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains comments that constantly flitting from one forum or application to another is associated with “shallower thinking, weakened concentration, reduced creativity, and heightened stress.” His views are supported by other experts who …

25 ways to Unplug

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The weekend provides an ideal opportunity to put our digital devices down and reconnect with this wondrous world around us! Not to mention ourselves and each other. But wonder what on earth you would do without them? If inspiration’s lacking, we’ve come up with 25 ways you can entertain yourself offline: Wrap up warm and go for a fresh Spring walk leaving your phone locked at home Finally pick up the forgotten cookery book found in your Christmas stocking, choose a recipe and whip up a delicious meal Hang out with friends – go for coffee, wander markets, make each other laugh Sit and write postcards, letters and cards for friends, buy stamps and post them – there’s nothing quite like receiving hand written mail! Invite friends over and play a game of cards or a board game round the kitchen table Spend some time with your pet – bath it, play with it, pet it Pick up a diary and write about your experience, including noting 3 positive things about being unplugged Take a hot bath with candles Discover the …

Why do Digital Devices Affect our Happiness?

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Scientists know 40% of our personal happiness levels are accounted for by our daily activities (50% genes & upbringing, 10% income & environment). So our lifestyle, the relationships we have and the habits we keep, significantly affect our happiness. We live in a hectic digital age where it’s impossible to avoid technology; iPhones, laptops, tablets and digital TV are an all-encompassing part of our daily routines. We’re addicted to notifications, checking our phones at any free moment and at the mercy of emails, checking them last thing at night (from our tranquil beds!) and first thing in the morning straight after we’ve switched off the alarm (our lovers don’t stand a chance!). Pressured to ‘show face’ on social media and regularly finding ourselves watch TV whilst navigating multiple Whatsapps and browsing Facebook on our iPads. Like it or not, we are all utterly addicted to technology, in fact, the average smartphone user now checks their phone a whopping 150 times a day! Unsurprisingly, these addictive digital habits are affecting our mental health and suppressing happiness. Millennials are struggling to sleep and suffering …

24hr Social Media use Linked to Teenage Anxiety

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Research from the University of Glasgow has found a strong link between teenage social media use and increased anxiety and depression. Lead researcher Dr Heather Cleland Woods carried out the study on 467 teenagers, looking at their overall and night-time specific social media use. Further tests measured sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety, depression and the subjects’ emotional investment in social media, which relates to the pressure to be available 24/7 and any anxiety around not responding immediately to texts or posts. Results showed that overall and night-time specific social media use along with a higher emotional investment in social media, were related to poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher anxiety and depression levels. Dr Cleland Woods explained: “Adolescence can be a period of increased vulnerability for the onset of depression and anxiety, and poor sleep quality may contribute to this. It is important that we understand how social media use relates to these.” She went on to say “While overall social media use impacts on sleep quality, those who log on at night appear to …

Technology and Sleep Deprivation, the Facts

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A lack of sleep is associated with depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, yet gone are the days when our bedrooms provided a sanctuary of tranquility and relaxation. Instead contemporary bedrooms are now filled with TVs, iPads, laptops and mobile phones – all doing their very best to ensure we’re permanently on call, over-stimulated and wound up. According to a National Sleep Foundation study, 60% of 13-64 year olds experience problems sleeping and a staggering 95% use electronics in the hour before they go to sleep. It doesn’t take a brain scientist to realise there could be a very strong link between the two! Especially when 95% of 18-29 year olds sleep with their phones right next to their beds. The self-luminous display light emitted from phones and tablets, is the main cause for concern, as a study from the Lighting Research Centre proved exposure to this artificial light before bed caused melatonin suppression – a hormone that regulates our body clock and tells us it’s nighttime! But what can we do to ensure we’re giving ourselves …

How Technology is Killing the Japanese Population

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It’s estimated that by 2060 unless something drastic is done to boost the Japanese birth rate, its population will shrink by a third. In the last year alone, it has dropped by 0.17% (215,000 people) – back to a level it was in 2000. This aging population poses a threat for politicians as they’re faced with the dilemma of trying to make sure the dwindling number of young workers are able to pay for the their growing number of pensioners. New breeds of Otaku men are being blamed for the drop in birth rate. Otaku is a Japanese term for people with obsessive interests in anime, manga and computers. Said to be passive and lacking desire, they are a generation of computer geeks who show little interest in relationships and sex. They would rather tune in to their own fantasy worlds and have virtual relationships. Love Plus is a Japanese video game for the pocket-sized Nintendo DS game player that provides virtual manga girlfriends and simulates the experience of a being in a relationship. The girlfriends like …