We are dying en masse from information overload, I read more and more. More than 2 million Dutch people have difficulty absorbing, let alone processing, the current flow of information. Highly educated people, especially managers in healthcare, education and ICT, are the biggest victims. Let's not forget that they are also the ones with the highest burnout rates.
Tony Crabbe shows in his bestseller Busy already indicated that since 1985 we have had more than 5 times as much consume content and more than 200 times as much produce content. No wonder people complain that they tire.
What's the first thing you did?
So this information consumption is made very easy for us. Tell me honestly, what is the very first thing you did this morning? Chances are you grabbed your phone. That would be the first of the 50 to 100 times you pick up your phone each day. In fact, the average Dutch person sits about 3 to 4 hours per day on his phone. Converted: about 50 full days a year. That's 300 marathons. Enough time for a trip around the world. Half of your working day. Every working day.
That time on your mobile is not only largely unnecessary, it often causes stress. Research shows that a website that takes too long to load on your mobile is just as stressful as watching a horror movie.
Social media and mail activate a mild form of fight or flight response, read: stress, in your body. Our increased screen time has even been linked to the rise in depression and suicide among young people.
It is not surprising, then, that among other things the inventor of the iPhone and iPad, did not let his children play on these devices themselves very much, if at all. Interestingly, by the way, since the launch of that same iPhone in 2007, the number of people suffering from burnout symptoms has increased has risen dramatically.
Improve sleep
To process all those impressions and information and make room for new information, a good sleep is essential. However, even in bed we often continue to cheerfully app, swipe and ping until we go to sleep. This is how we stay 'on'. During our training we always advise you to turn off your mobile phone at least one hour before you go to sleep. Simply because it improves the quality of your sleep. improves.
The mobile is an accepted part of our society. A gambling addict behind a slot machine is a sad sight, but our addiction to dopamine we unabashedly put next to us on the table when we are in conversation. Surely something more important could pass by.
Lack of concentration is an ever-increasing cost in business, but the greatest stress creator ever is just right next to us when we are at work.
Counter-movement
Fortunately, there is a growing backlash from the same society that gave us the technology. Computer scientist and ex-Googler Tristan Harris makes his case For minimizing our distractions from cell phones and also larger American investment funds are laying fire to companies like Apple to be more responsible with our addiction. A real battle has even broken out to develop the app that will make sure you're on your mobile as little as possible.
That movement is then countered by the phone manufacturers themselves. In the end, your "screen time" provides data and thus money for business. The only question is what you get out of it in the end.....
