Always On Culture: Are Your Devices Impacting Your Health?
You can spend every day of your life tackling health issues head-on including your diet and exercise. But, there could be one area of your health that you have not considered, and it’s something you use every day.
Your devices, such as your smartphone, tablet, or laptop could impact your health more than you realize it. Although fears about harmful radiation have been debunked, there are other health issues your devices could aggravate.
FOMO
Fear of Missing Out is nothing new. Everyone has experienced FOMO at some point in their life, but this is usually between friends and family. People never used to worry about what other people were doing because they didn’t know.
All that has changed with social media and the ensuing Instagram anxiety that comes from seeing strangers living their best life while you sit on the sofa catching up on trash TV. Content that includes perpetual vacations or stunning homes that you know you’d never be able to afford is not good for your mental health, and it can even make you feel like you’re not living life to its fullest.
Exploitation and Anxiety
Even if you aren’t on social media, you can still experience anxiety in different ways, especially when it comes to your personal life. The always-on culture has led to increased evidence of burnout via the exploitation of workers, with managers assuming that you are contactable at any time because you have email or instant messaging apps on your phone.
This phenomenon makes it impossible to switch off even after working hours. You can never unwind as you’re always worried about an eight PM message that you are expected to answer immediately. It is even worse for retail or hospitality workers, who are often threatened with dismissal if they can’t do the team a favor and come in on their day off.
Slow Performance and Frustration
Even if you have the freedom of working remotely or working for yourself, technology can still impact your health. Slow and laggy devices are the bane of almost everyone who uses their laptop throughout the day, and even the slightest drop in speed can be frustrating.
There are ways around this, of course. Regular maintenance and clearing the cache, which you can learn more about here, can maintain your laptop speeds. You can also look at upgrading the hard driver (ideally to an SSD) or replacing the battery if it seems like it cannot survive for even 30 minutes without being plugged in.
Struggling to Sleep
Studies regarding how blue light affects our focus and tricks our trains into thinking it’s the middle of the day are well documented. As we have our devices within reach at all times, it’s easy to fall into a loop of checking notifications or endlessly scrolling through websites, even just before bed.
If you do not take advantage of the blue light filter, which adjusts the screen’s warmth and is more delicate to your eyes, you can struggle to sleep. For those who struggle to wake up early each day, this change could make a significant difference.
Bacteria and Germs
One health issue that is not always considered when thinking of devices is how many germs are found on your phone. This issue has increased massively since the advent of smartphones, especially if you’re someone who will happily take it into the bathroom with you.
Some studies have claimed that there are ten times more germs on your phone than on a toilet seat, and when you consider how often you touch your face after touching your phone, it paints a worrying picture of the type of germs you pass on.
Eye Health
When you were younger, your parents may have told you not to stare at the TV or sit too close for too long, as you will damage your eyes. While you never ended up with square eyes as they claimed, there is some truth in how constant exposure to screens can affect eye health.
Focusing on a small text on your smartphone for a long time can force you to focus too much, which can contribute to eye strain and cause migraines if you do it too much. Prevent this by increasing the text size, which is possible on all devices.
The Impact
Society has reached a point where devices are necessary no matter what we do. From blogging to running a small business or even working on a construction site or at a school, technology is everywhere. As useful as it can be, it can also pose a significant risk to our overall health. It’s worth considering whether any of these issues sound familiar so we can take steps to switch off, even if it’s just for a few hours more.
