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It’s been my experience that technology is a double-edged sword for my well-being. On the one hand it enables me to do things I wouldn’t have dreamed of when I was growing up, such as playing any song I want for free whenever I want. Cue memories of sitting by the radio in the early nineties hoping to hear my latest favourite hit!

Yet while technology is a wonderful servant, on the other hand it is a lousy master. In the digital age we live in it is easy to treat the mobile phone as simply an extension of your hand, constantly checking emails, news and scrolling social media feeds. If you’re not careful, this tendency can put the mind in a constant state of distraction which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to focus.

The challenge for us all is that the digital tools that help us to stay connected to each other, do our work and learn new things, also place relentless demands on our attention, which can and often do pull us away from what we want or need to do.

A study done at the University of London found that constant emailing and text-messaging reduces mental capability by an average of ten points on an IQ test. And here’s what I find most interesting. It was five points for women, and fifteen points for men. So us men are particularly incapacitated from multitasking. 

As someone who has suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, I find using social media can easily make me feel anxious and I therefore limit my use of it. It’s certainly a mental health danger zone when it comes to things like body image, politics, and other topics that affect one personally. I’ve learnt the hard way about the impact of social media on my mental health from posting opinions on controversial topics which have drawn the ire of others and resulted in pain for me and for them. These days I am much more careful.

Here’s my two cents for anyone looking for guidance from my lived experience on preventing technology-induced anxiety:

• In your free time, be deliberate about what you are doing and know when is a good time to be on your phone and when isn’t. A rule of thumb I go by is if I pull out my phone without having something specific I want to do on it, then I’m probably going to end up mindlessly scrolling my personal email inbox or social media, which is neither satisfying nor enjoyable.
• In your work or study time, watch out for digital distractions, including things like email requests or instant messages from colleagues that need to be managed well, otherwise they will fill you with unnecessary urgency and contribute to anxiety. 

In his excellent book on this topic titled Your Brain at Work, David Rock notes “The challenge is that any distraction, however small, diverts your attention. It then takes effort to shift your attention back to where it was before the distraction… Distractions are not just frustrating; they can be exhausting. By the time you get back to where you were, your ability to stay focused goes down even further.”

This is where prioritising well and blocking out time in your calendar to focus on work that requires your full attention can be a big help not just to your productivity, but to your mental health.

Remember it’s all about being the master of your own attention, whether you are working, relaxing or whatever you are doing. If you aren’t in control of it, social media algorithms and demanding work colleagues will make sure they are instead. 

Check out my book Beating Hospital Grade Depression and Anxiety on Amazon or download the audiobook for free here!