What should be considered healthy or unhealthy use of technology?

By Teodora Pavkovic

We, at Art & Tech for a Better World, are so honored to present these words of wellness wisdom to you. They emerged from the nourishing dialog I had with Teodora Pavkovic about the HUMANITECH conference that took place in June this year, a virtual digital wellness conference she was the lead organizer and curator for.

My original intention was to write an article about the concepts Teodora shared with me, but I am convinced after speaking with her that I have nothing more to add, but simply to share our dialog with you. So, as I usually do, I have added a few “Key Concepts” to highlight some of Teodora’s most important points.

You will find my questions and/or provoking thoughts in bold below, with the rest of the text being Teodora’s own responses.

What should be considered healthy or unhealthy use of technology? Is there a universal way to measure it or a personal one? Or is it not measurable at all?

This is probably the key question within the field of digital wellness. The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued guidelines for parents to follow when exposing their children to digital technologies, but when it comes to us adults, we're left to fend for ourselves. For one, our adoption of these new technologies has been so incredibly fast that we haven't had enough time to properly research their psycho-emotional impact, and secondly, technology has infiltrated so many aspects of our life by now that it's not easy to identify the line that separates healthy and unhealthy use. Organizations such as The Digital Wellness Collective, The DQ Institute, All Tech is Human and the Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood are making strides in developing surveys and guidelines for healthier design, implementation and consumption of technology, and I feel incredibly hopeful about the impact these will have. I absolutely do believe that there are better and worse ways to engage with technology, and as a psychologist I encourage people to measure this by asking themselves a few fundamental questions as they are engaging with it: 1. How meaningful is this for me? 2. Am I really paying attention to what is going on right now? And 3. How does this make me feel? 

What are your thoughts on planned screen time, as well as our unplugged family time (during and post Covid)?

Planning our daily activities has never been so important, whether tech-based or tech-free ones. The emergence of the global pandemic has brought on a complete disruption of what was our normal daily life before, and this loss of control has been particularly hard for people to deal with. And so 'blueprinting' our days - as I like to call it - can really help us feel like we still do control at least some aspect of our life. I also recommend this approach of 'blueprinting' when it comes to deciding which types of technology we use and when, where and why we use them. For those who have young children in particular, this is the easiest way to avoid having those all-too-familiar power-struggles because once clear boundaries are set in place, there is little room left for trying to bend them. And for those without children, I have found this to be the most helpful way to create clearer boundaries between work vs non-work activities as well as nurturing vs draining activities.

Digital Wellness is not the same now as it was before Covid, why is that?

On the one hand, yes, that's absolutely right; before Covid, there were many more options for putting technology away and still being connected. Because that direct human-to-human contact is mostly out of the question right now, we are having to rely on our devices much more heavily to stay in touch and be up-to-date. On the other hand though, what it means to be digitally well - at least as I define it - remains unchanged. Being digitally well means using technology mindfully, intentionally and humanely in such a way that it doesn't tarnish your psychological and emotional well-being or the psychological and emotional well-being of others. This is my definition of digital wellness, based on the emotional and psychological human needs that have remained unchanged for thousands of years. We certainly have to rely on digital technologies in brand new ways in 2020, but it is precisely because we are having to rely on them so much more than before that we have to be extra-mindful of our digital wellness.

Creating healthy habits at home: how do we go about doing this?

Home is where everything is at this moment. It is for this reason that our sense of time and space has been so deeply disrupted, and that managing our responsibilities and regulating our emotions has become so difficult. We are stressed, afraid and overwhelmed, and technology can make these matters worse or better - depending on how we use it. When trying to create healthier tech habits, the guiding principle to keep in mind is mindful technology use. And so I always recommend addressing those fundamental tech-use questions I mentioned before: 1. How meaningful is this for me? 2. Am I really paying attention to what is going on right now? And 3. How does this make me feel? Seek out ways of creating and consuming digital content that scores highly (and positively) on these three questions. In addition to this, do some 'blueprinting' to decide where in your home you (and other members of your family) will use which types of tech for what purpose and during which times of the day. 

Creating healthy habits while working, to improve focus: what are some of the things to keep in mind?

We have a solid amount of data to show us how disruptive technology can be to our ability to sustain focus, pay attention and be genuinely productive at work (The RescueTime blog has some great information on this topic). Taking a step back from these findings though, neuroscience has already established that this multitasking phenomenon that many of us carry as a badge of honor doesn't even really exist as far as our brain is concerned - it is a myth that really only means we are stopping one task and starting another one. So, the most important change that we all need to make is to engage in more 'mono-tasking.' This saves our brain a huge amount of energy, energy that can then be poured into productive, creative work. One of the easiest ways to do that is to reduce the number of devices we engage with while working (hardware) and the other is to reduce the number of platforms or apps we use (software). The number itself isn't actually as relevant as is their necessity - if you absolutely need to have 5 different apps open in order to do your job that is fine, but then make sure that it's only those 5 that you are engaging in while you are in 'work mode.' Make it difficult for temptations such as social media and gaming to get in the way of your work, but also make sure that you take regular and meaningful breaks while you work, so that your brain doesn't end up starved for down-time and craving for mindless scrolling and bingeing. A brain that is able to focus is a brain that is 1. Engaged in meaningful work and 2. Well-rested.

Key Concepts

• Being digitally well means using technology mindfully, intentionally and humanely in such a way that it doesn't tarnish your psychological and emotional well-being or the psychological and emotional well-being of others.

• The emergence of the global pandemic has brought on a complete disruption of what was our normal daily life before, and this loss of control has been particularly hard for people to deal with. 

• We are stressed, afraid and overwhelmed, and technology can make these matters worse or better, depending on how we use it.

• We certainly have to rely on digital technologies in brand new ways in 2020, but it is precisely because we are having to rely on them so much more than before that we have to be extra-mindful of our digital wellness.I always recommend addressing the following fundamental tech-use questions: 1. How meaningful is this for me? 2. Am I really paying attention to what is going on right now? and 3. How does this make me feel? Seek out ways of creating and consuming digital content that scores highly (and positively) on these three questions. In addition to this, do some 'blueprinting' to decide where in your home you (and other members of your family) will use which types of tech for what purpose and during which times of the day. 

HUMANITECH was organized by Teodora Pavkovic and Anya Pechko, with the support of David Klein and Patrick McAndrew.

To find more information, please go to https://www.joinhumanitech.com.