Technology has made our lives easier and more efficient in numerous ways – from the ability to quickly look up directions, information, and endless entertainment. But the amount of technology we are able to consume has been impacting our brain’s ability to focus and hold memory.
Jim Kwik in his book, Limitless, breaks down our four ‘supervillians’ in this digital age.
Digital Deluge
Deluge means being overwhelmed with a great quantity of something, and that something is information. With technology so accessible, we currently have too much to process but not enough time to process it. In the past, we had to rely on newspapers and word of mouth to receive information but now, we consume so much data that we rarely give ourselves downtime. Studies have shown that with the lack of downtime and taking mental breaks, it results in fatigue, poor memory, and mental fog.
What to do about it?
Setting boundaries from your screen. I set my phone away from my bed so I don’t immediately check it when I first wake up and I limit screen time before falling asleep. I have made it a habit to not check my phone within the first hour of waking up so I have a moment of peace to do my morning routine, make my breakfast, and get in the right mindset before going through my text and email notifications. At night, I set a do not disturb mode at 10pm, and either journal or read before falling asleep. Don’t limit to just morning and night, set 15-30 min blocks mid-day to take a break from all screens, too. It really works!
Digital Distraction
We are always-on, ever-connected and when we are with our friends and family, we struggle to stay connected and when we’re at work, we struggle to stay focused. We find it difficult to wait in lines without pulling out our phones or even going on a walk without the urge to be on our phones. Also, our brains are wired to be addicted to notifications, to pings, to likes on social media. Don’t you notice that every app that is downloaded, the first question they ask you is “Would you like to turn on your notifications?” All of these distractions are negatively impacting our focus. Every time we are working on something, and a notification pops up and we lose our focus, it takes us over 10 minutes to get back into focus. Imagine all that loss of productivity.
What to do about it?
Go into your phone and turn off all the notifications you do not need. Personally, the only notifications I have turned on are my text messages and my bank alerts. Nothing else. You don’t need email alerts, Instagram alerts, etc – those are all only distractors.
Digital Dementia
Is there a person that you call or text often but you can’t remember their phone number? Do you drive around your city in the same routes all the time, but still use the GPS? Although technology has provided us with so much convenience, it’s handicapping us in ways that we don’t realize. Our brains are a muscle and if we’re not constantly building it, it gets weaker.
Jim Kwik writes, “Too often, we outsource our brains to our smart devices, and our smart devices are making us, well, a little stupid.”
And one of the ways you can strengthen your memory overall is to build the habit of trying to recall information rather than relying on another source. Remember, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
What to do about it?
Take moments to exercise your memory. Try to memorize the phone number of someone you communicate with regularly. And the next time you drive to the grocery store or your do your daily commute, try not to rely on your GPS.
Digital Deduction
With social media, the comments sections (IG/YouTube/FB), articles, and more – we get overwhelmed with the opinions of so many others. We hear a mix of perceptions, facts, and opinions that it has been impacted our own ability to make decisions, problem solve, and apply our own critical thinking skills. We’re letting technology do the deduction for us and this inhibits our own capacity to reflect, reason, and draw conclusions based on our own experiences and insights.
Don’t let technology impose its thinking on you.
What to do about it?
Think about a decision you need to make and schedule some quiet time to work on this decision without searching up solutions or opinions on the internet.
Summary
Overall, technology is a blessing but we have exceeded that curve where the accessibility is having a potentially negative impact on our minds. Really understanding digital deluge, distraction dementia, and deduction can help you recognize it and build habits to let technology work with you and not against you.
What habits will you start to develop?
