How to drastically lower technology usage?
How addicted are you to technology? if your answer comes close to 'very addicted', then it's time to set boundaries to reduce your technology usage. The fact is that excessive technology usage is a waste of precious time that can be used for productive measures. Excessive technology usage also has detrimental effects on your mental health. In this article I will help you drastically lowering your technology usage.
What's the problem with technology usage?
You are probably wondering what the problem is with technology usage. Since the 2000's the use of technology skyrocketed when the internet became more mainstream to the general population. Especially during the 2010's when excessive smartphone use became normalized, did we start seeing problems arise.
The tech companies promised that technology would help us in our day-to-day life, but in the end it has enslaved us. It brought benefits, for sure, but they don't even come close to outweighing the negative effects. What are these negative effects you are wondering?
Negative effects of excessive technology use
- Loneliness 😞 - Loneliness is on the rise, mostly because of decreased social interactions. Humans are social creatures, and view social bonding as one of it's core needs. There is close to a 20% increase in feeling lonely when individuals excessively use social media compared to normal users.
- Dumbing down of intellectual abilities 🤡 - Nowadays people use their smartphone for almost anything you can imagine. Whether it is to navigate to a location or to plan a meeting online without human interaction. This can result in the brain relying less on its problem solving skills, and thus regressing in that particular skill.
- Poor sleep 😴 - Because of the fact that most smartphone users sleep next to their phone, they wake up because of beeps and pings coming from their phone. Instead of putting their phone in silent mode, they either react to the messages or let the sounds keep waking them up throughout the night!
- Anxiety 😰 - Individuals that tend to use technology are more prone to anxiety. Why is that? Its because technology advances at a extremely fast rate and it's a constant flow of new information and thus dopamine. There is no chance for your brain to adapt, which affects your sense of self and ultimately leads to anxiety.
- Concentration issues 🧠 - Individuals that are addicted to smartphone use tend to have distraction problems and sleeping problems. Both these problems lead to a problems with concentration.
Since it's clear what the negative effects of excess technology use are, its time to give you a method which will make it easy to drastically lower your technology usage.
Time Crunch Method
The philosophy behind this method is that you plan your day in such a way that there is no time to do other stuff. Hence the name: 'Time Crunch'. Its a very basic method, but it works wonders if you stick to this method!
The method is as follows:
Create a weekly or daily planning. Make sure this has been made the day/week prior. Use time blocks, where you solely do an activity for either thirty minutes or an hour. During these time blocks there is zero time for digital distraction!
Each day should be fully booked, so that there is zero room for excessive technology usage. I recommend a maximum of thirty minutes of non-productive related technology use a day. This method does take allot of discipline to succeed. A tip I can give you is to say aloud or in your thoughts: 'NO, I wont use technology because it harms me!' when you feel the urge to indulge into it.