By Ryan Bell

Growing up, everyday technology use has looked the same—mindless hours spent on addictive technology like social media, video games, Netflix, and so on. Living a life distracted by technology has come with many negative side effects, but it took a pandemic for me to appreciate the value of my time and to truly want something better. I’m now taking small steps every day to become more deliberate about the time I spend on technology, and I’m leading a life that is happier, healthier and more meaningful.

Life distracted by digital technology

I’ve highlighted below some of the main side effects that I’ve experienced from addictive technology and the differences of what my younger self thought compared with what I now think today.

Loss of productivity

Up until recently, I had completely lost the ability to focus on anything for significant lengths of time. Push notifications and infinite scroll, along with the countless other addictive designs, had welcomed me into a life of constant interruption. It became harder to learn and retain information, taking me much longer to get anything done.

Then: “The reason my memory is bad and I’m struggling to focus is just because of the person that I am. Turning to social media is enabling me to catch up with friends and enjoy memes.”

Now: “The reason my memory was poor and focussing was a struggle is because I was constantly checking my phone and unintentionally multitasking. Turning to social media was a coping mechanism for boredom and I felt bad when it got in the way of achieving meaningful work.”

Loss of sleep

Throughout my life, social media, gaming, Netflix, emails and other forms of online entertainment contributed to my frequent sleep deprivation. This was most common during my studies when I would often work through the night to submit essays.

Recently as the country entered lockdown, my extra leisure time largely translated to extensive hours glued to my PS4 with competitive Fortnite as my new pastime. For anyone familiar with the eSports scene, you are well aware of the time investments needed for competitive gaming.

On one hand, I had a lot of fun playing and improving my skills while competing and socialising with my friends every day. On the other hand, as the competition ramped up, the fun began to waiver. Grinding to be the best left me mentally exhausted, irritable, aggressive and just unpleasant to be around.

Then: “I need to work late in order to achieve good grades, and this is unavoidable,” “I need to stay up late to get the most out of my evenings, and this is worth the struggle the following day.”

Now: “I know that I don’t need to lose sleep or forfeit time spent enjoying online entertainment to achieve anything I want in life. However, I know that I need to take control of how I use technology and prioritise my time for the things that matter most.”

Loss of empathy

Thinking back, I struggle to identify instances where addictive technology would not interrupt the time I spent socialising with family and friends. My ability to sense other people’s emotions deteriorated as I spent less time in the real world. Holding a normal conversation in real life or even just maintaining eye contact became increasingly difficult.

Then: “I need to check my phone regularly to ensure that I’m not missing out. Everyone else is doing it,” “My parents need to stop nagging me to get off my phone. They just don’t understand.”

Now: “I can see that social networks distracted me from connecting with those directly in front of me, and this has made networking throughout my career tougher. I suffered from this even as an extrovert who is typically an outgoing and socially confident person.”

Stress and loneliness

Anything longer than an hour without checking or using my phone became difficult. There was a need for constant interruptions, multitasking, and constant noise. I chose to avoid silence, introducing music or any other form of distraction while I walked, drove or worked out at the gym. As a result, I couldn’t think clearly about anything.

Then: “It’s good to be busy. Multitasking helps me to get more things done,” “Checking my phone is usually more entertaining than whatever else is going on,” “Silence is boring.”

Now: “Constant noise and multitasking is stressful, and makes it almost impossible to think clearly or reflect on what truly matters,” “Spending too much time on social media made me feel as though I always needed to be connected, which made any down time feel like loneliness.”

Flipping the switch

During the pandemic, my hours were hooked by the addictive design of technology. This ramped up to the point that I had become completely burnt out, both physically and mentally. I wasn’t willing to retry any of my previously failed attempts at making a change, such as tweaking app settings or following random online tips and tricks. I had reached a tipping point which drove me to going cold turkey for a full week—no phone, social media, gaming, etc. I contacted my friends and family to let them know and reassure them that there was nothing to worry about.

And what a week it was! After unplugging from technology, I could finally get in a headspace where I could think independently, reflect on my life, and appreciate the value of the hours in the day.

Now, what you are probably wondering is “Weren’t you bored?” or “ What did you do all day?”

Well, of course I was bored, initially. There were multiple hours in the day when I had no plan and there was a constant temptation to check my phone and go back to my old routine. However, I managed to keep my access restricted and the initial boredom actually subsided quicker than I could have imagined. Self-reflection gave me the time to think about what I wanted to do with these extra hours, to think about what really matters to me and what makes me happy. In the time since, I’ve been working on just that.

The pursuit of something better

The release from a life of constant distractions felt good, but I’m not going to pretend that the initial boredom suddenly paved the way for some kind of “eureka” moment. In fact, my downtime from technology wasn’t even initially very exciting. It mostly just involved me getting on top of some chores that I’d been putting off and going for the occasional walk. But somehow, I did feel a lot happier.

This led me to wonder if I could be happier all the time. My spare time soon started to fill up with reading, researching well-being, and improving my fitness, diet and sleeping pattern. By continually making small adjustments to better myself, it made me realise that I was never really as happy as I thought I was.

You’re happy now, but who’s to say you couldn’t be happier?

My technology use has transitioned from a lifestyle of subconsciously using technology–more so out of habit than for fun–to a lifestyle that instead focuses my online time on activities that support the things I value.

I’m not becoming Amish, anti-technology, or a Luddite. In fact, my screen time is still reasonably high. The difference now is that I’m more intentional and focused on the things that I value. I still enjoy using social media, playing games, watching Netflix, etc., but now that I have changed how I spend my time, addictive technologies do not get in the way of the things that are more important in life".

Since discovering digital wellness, I’m just feeling much better. Breaking the hook of addictive technology took away the negative side effects I discussed earlier, and in doing so, freed up precious time. I’m now getting more things done every day, I’m performing considerably better at work, but most importantly, I’m happier, healthier and I have a greater sense of purpose in life.

In the pursuit of something better, I’ve come to appreciate just how crucial digital wellness is. However, this soon got me thinking… could others be facing a similar problem? Could they also be better off?

Vision for a better digital future

My fellow Gen-Zers shouldn’t have to fall victim to addictive technology in the same way that I did. Why are so many of us falling short of real digital wellness?

In Born Digital by Robert Wrigley, Freddie Pearson sheds light on this problem: “For something that has become such a central part of the way we live our lives it is frightening how little education there is on the subject.”

As Cal Newport suggests in his book Digital Minimalism, “Willpower, tips, and vague resolutions are not sufficient by themselves to tame the ability of new technologies to invade your cognitive landscape–the addictiveness of their design, and the strength of the cultural process supporting them are too strong for any ad-hoc approach to succeed.”

Are we missing a trick here?

We just might be.

In my next blog, I’ll explore the solution that I’ve been working towards to address this problem, and explain how it could be the cornerstone for a digital future that is happier, healthier and better for all.

How Discovering Digital Wellness Changed My Life