We are now living in a world where digital devices are arguably as essential to humans as the common basic needs. In this day and age, if you ask every person in a room about which specific item can they live without, every single one of them would probably answer the same thing: their mobile phone.
Powered by the internet, our mobile phones, tablets, or laptops can essentially do everything from finding directions to putting every information we need at our fingertips. As technology continues to advance at a considerable speed, the list of digital uses keeps getting longer and with it comes our increased reliance on these devices.
Since the pandemic hit, this reliance on technology has been further magnified as we turned to digital devices to cope with social distancing measures, ensure business continuity, and deliver services. Office employees, in particular, were then bound to learn how to work on multiple platforms, attend endless virtual meetings, and sometimes render longer work hours to get everything done at work. Outside-office hours or during break times, many are still depending on devices to check the news, connect with loved ones, and even just entertain themselves with games, shows, and the like.
With these unprecedented changes in the way we operate, more and more employees are now finding themselves staring at a screen longer than they realize.
It is common knowledge that too much of anything can be bad for us, and digital tools are no exception. When used excessively, one of the many possible negative effects that one may experience is digital fatigue—a state of mental exhaustion and disengagement after using digital tools and applications for a prolonged period1.
If you are an employee whose nature of a job requires you to sit in front of a computer to get all work done, and whose phone is the first and last thing you face after waking up and before going to bed, then there is a high chance that you may be experiencing this digital fatigue. Not sure about that? Here are the common signs and symptoms1 that you must watch out for.
In a nutshell, digital fatigue can lead to a lack of energy, mental clarity, and burnout and can cause negative psychological and physical effects on our overall well-being2. It goes without saying that the quality of work output can subsequently get affected.
Our devices have clearly become an integral part of today's new normal, and this dire need for these tools in our personal and professional lives is here to stay and expected to persist for the long haul. Despite the possible consequences of our over-reliance on these tools, there are ways that we can do to prevent digital fatigue and make our devices work for us, not against us. Try to incorporate the following tips into your everyday work routine:
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