Busy with success but feeling stressed? Maybe its screen fatigue.

Social Media for a New Age Podcast

It’s been a busy and successful summer with many of us seeing a big increase in being back out in the world, mixing with one another and working with one another. Over the weekend, I tried to take two or three days off. I tried to take time off and away from my screen. I had my phone in do not disturb. I was outside with the phone inside, following the advice that I give, things I learnt in the digital wellbeing training, knowing how the body works, how the brain works, how we create space from our mobile device in order to unhook from it. I've been online so much with work because I've had to be and this can be the same for so many of us. Success can equal screen time. Particularly in the last two or three weeks, I have been making an effort to address it but I'm also struggling with that. I noticed this afternoon, I thought of something I needed to get on Amazon, and the phone's back in my hand, I’m back on there and the next thing I know I'm in telegram, I'm in Instagram, I'm in this, I'm in that. And I'm like, “Ugh, I'm doing it again! And I don't want to be doing this!’ That's me as a conscious aware adult who admittedly has a problem with it because it's part of my work and it affects me because I'm on it a lot. It is after all a hook method designed to hook into our hormones and our minds and our attention. It's designed that way and so of course it's going to hack me as well, even though I'm aware of it. I read a worrying report this week about teens, social media and technology in 2022 from the Pew Research Center. They’ve done a survey of American teens on their relationship to technology and out of 13 to 17 year olds they surveyed 67% of them say they've used TikTok with 16% of them saying that they use it almost constantly. With YouTube 95% of teens using YouTube and out that 95%, 19% using it almost constantly. That’s even more than TikTok! And who's to say, they're not bouncing between YouTube and TikTok. I am worried about this. I'm worried about it on a multitude of levels, not only on a physiological level but what it means for them and what it means for society, culture and all of the things!!! Read more on substack >> https://www.socialmediaforanewage.substack.com