Caring for our Mental Health in the Tech Age

And as we’ve increased our access, we’ve also increased our accessibility—our ability to be accessed by others. The work never ends when emails can be delivered to our pocket computers. All of the different ways we communicate yield millions of notifications from different platforms, taxing our internal body battery immensely. We begin to feel like our boundaries are being violated, even if we are unsure of what those boundaries are to begin with.

All of this can yield fatigue, overstimulation, poor sleep, and high levels of stress and anxiety. We hope that technology is a net positive in our lives, but sometimes this requires intentional boundaries around that technology.

Today, consider how you can begin to protect your energy in relation to the technology you use on a daily basis. Can you charge your phone in a different room at night, so you’re not tempted to scroll social media in bed? Can you turn off notifications during heads-down work so you finish your tasks with more focus? Can you be more mindful of the content you consume on social media and in the news? These small shifts can make a substantial difference in our mental wellness and our overall experience of this technology we are blessed and cursed with.