If there was something that helps you be more productive would you do it? What If I told you the same thing helps with creativity, lowering anxiety, sleeping better, and can even deepen your relationships? There is a catch though; it requires no money, no fancy gadgets and no internet access. Interested?
If you were to look at your typical day, what does it look like? Perhaps something like riding the elevator into work, checking emails, mind numbing Skype meetings, stuffing food in your mouth while you work at your computer, and the phone ringing off the hook. Then when you get home it’s checking your Facebook and an email or two, maybe grabbing a workout on your treadmill while jamming out to your favorite tunes? Followed by talking to your significant other and or children while watching your favorite TV show. When you finally get some time to unwind, you fire up that ol’ tablet and read a good book before you go to bed.
Maybe this is a typical day for you, or perhaps you have days like it—surrounded by electronic gadgets that you imagine make your life easier by giving you unlimited access to everything under the sun, 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, there’s a serious side effect to using these devices. By putting your brain though a gamut of constant stimuli, you are left with a residue of lingering thoughts, sounds, and images that do not necessarily leave your mind when you are done with them. There’s a good reason people often say, “I can’t turn it off when it’s time to go to sleep.”
The research as suggested by Linda Stone in 2008, states a few other startling things as well. Her research claims knowledge workers can spend up to 8 hours a day in front of an electronic device (TV, smartphones, emails , computers, etc), an activity also known as “screen time”. This results in a phenomenon known as screen apnea. In most cases, people looking at a screen breathe more shallow or hold their breath all together. This has negative effects on the circulatory, pulmonary and autonomic nervous system resulting in chronic stress on our body. The data also postulates if an adult engages in an average of 6 hours of screen time a day without regularly disconnecting, it could shorten their life expectancy by up to 4.8 years-even if they exercise regularly. Yikes!
As the research suggests, if you don’t regularly unplug from the world of electronics and reconnect to the world that is right in front of you, it can have lasting negative effects. Here are a few questions to consider that might help you to “unplug”.
When was the last time you:
- Worked on a project on a legal pad?
- Had dinner with no TV, music, or smartphones?
- Were active outside, with no ipod to listen or screen to watch?
- Read a bound book?
- Hand wrote something creative in a journal?
- Concentrated purely on the sounds around you?
- Focused on how deeply you breath?
- Had a meaningful conversation?
And my last few questions…
- How could your quality of life improve if you set aside 2 hours to unplug?
- What great business idea could you jot down on paper?
- Where is some place different you could walk or run?
- What engaging conversation could you have at dinner?
- What brilliant observation could you write about in a journal?
- What else could you do to better yourself and those around you in that 2 hours?
- What would happen if you did it EVERYDAY?
