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Staying balanced in the digital age
With my Psychology background from college, I couldn't resist the "Therapy 2.0: Mental Health for Geeks" session at SXSW09. This core conversation organically took on the feeling of a support group meeting. I honestly kept waiting for someone to stand up and say, "Hi, I'm Bob and I'm addicted to my mobile device" and for the group to chime in unison, "Hi Bob."I personally came over to the dark side three months ago when I caved and bought my very own shiny Crackberry. I don't know that I'll ever be able to find my way back into the light, that thing comes with me everywhere.
All joking aside, in today's over connected world, the ability to have true solitude becomes more and more difficult to come by. It's hard to just "be" in a space when our devices represent a constant reminder of our digital responsibilities. Yet this is the world we've actively chosen to be a part of, so how to we manage our love hate relationship with our devices? The two moderators of this session, Thomas Roche and Dr. Keely Kolmes, left us with five things we can do in our everyday lives to feel more balanced.
- Create a weekly gratitude practice/journal.
- Use breathing exercises and mindfulness practice throughout the day.
- Make an extra effort to connect with others for social support offline.
- Exercise in some way every day. Study after study proves its positive stress reduction/management effects.
- Use thought tracking to become more aware of your moods.
To my fellow geeks out there, are you able to distance yourself from your devices or do you experience information anxiety from time to time? What techniques can you share that help you stay balanced?
I'll get us started.- "Hi, I'm Laura. (Hi Laura.) Sometimes I send Kira an Instant Message to ask her a question instead of just asking it out loud. She sits right beside me."
- "To stay balanced, I take a Yoga class every Monday night at my gym. It starts my week out on the right foot."
- Come on folks, who's next?
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