In today's digital age where everything is connected, whether you wake up in the morning or go to sleep, you have a screen in front of you, whether you receive a message, or a notification, or endless scrolling of social media throughout the day, the internet is with us everywhere and has become a huge part of our daily routine. Whether we use it for education, work, entertainment, communication, or relaxation, we choose the internet everywhere to stay connected, so this level of internet usage has increased. Today, we have become so dependent on the internet; there is no solution to this, so abandoning the internet completely is not the solution. Rather, we will have to learn how to balance it mindfully.
Digital overload does not mean how much time you spend on the internet. It means how you engage yourself. Our brain on the internet is not designed in such a way that we can process so much information at once, which is endless. There are messages, emails or apps, all of which create a huge load in our minds, which makes us feel tired. We think that to relax, we can watch videos or solve problems on Instagram, but we get into a loop in which we remain engrossed in something and then start sleeping. Then the same pattern keeps repeating, and it becomes a very recognisable pattern, and it changes us a lot and also controls our mind.
What many people do is blame it on the internet. It is the internet's fault that we have so much interaction with people, but it is not the internet's fault. We have a lack of education and connection, which we are not able to use properly. Immediately after this, we should settle down mentally and practically and set boundaries as to when we have to do what and when we have to watch what. What will happen with this is that you will have to watch the same thing in the same amount of time, and you will be able to enjoy it as well and not overreact to it or get tired of it.
Which is the biggest reason? The reason for digital overload is that there are a lot of people who get up from their phone or laptop for some work or another. But after an hour of work, they start scrolling through other things related to it, due to which they get stuck in that group of things. They do the same thing again and again and later think that I had come here to work, then they regret for a lot of time that I had come here to work, but instead of that, I got distracted by irrelevant content and forgot why I had opened the app in the first place. This spoils your efficiency. Your time, which should have been spent on work, ends up getting wasted on unrelated browsing.
The second important thing which will reduce digital overload is that you should start tracking it. Every phone shows the time that you spend on which app, so you will start tracking it. Throughout the day, you will start noticing fewer things. I will give my example. When my Instagram scoring increased, I automatically started tracking on my phone how much I use Instagram in a day. Gradually, I stopped doing that thing, and I invested that time in a good place where I could learn a lot or make myself a little better and do a little more work on my own.
Notifications are the biggest contributor to digital stress. For example, when I am doing some work, by chance, a friend or someone messages me asking what I am doing, I reply to them. Then while talking to them, my one hour or one and a half hours gets wasted. So, where I was behind something or doing some work in one and a half hour, then I spend one hour chatting with someone, and then after that they chat on Instagram, it becomes such a waste where I sat down to work, but I am chatting and scrolling, due to which my productivity decreases a lot and I am not able to work efficiently and effectively.
Which I can tell you from my experience. If you can't do it anyway, then every app has a set time. Like Instagram has a time setting option in which if you set it for one hour, then Instagram will be closed for one hour, then it is a very good thing, and Many parents restrict screen time for their children, but overuse it themselves. This sets a poor example and affects the child's mental development, because the period of childhood is a very special period in which children learn a lot, and during that period, you will give them a digital phone. It is not that it was digital, but if you give it to them for scrolling, then it will overload them. Later, they will become irritable. Due to which whenever you snatch the phone from them, they will get angry or start crying, then this is your problem because that childhood phase will give it to them, and it will be very difficult. Excessive screen time in early childhood can lead to developmental delays, making it harder for them to keep up with their peers later.
But all these things are possible only if you have self-control, no matter how much you do. If you do not have self-control, then you can apply any app or anything else. You will not be able to get rid of your habit of looking at the phone throughout the day or while working. If you have self-control, then digital overload can never happen because there is self-control in it, or it can handle itself or not. I have to work now. I have to do a protective thing now, which will benefit me, so I will never have digital overload.
In the end, beating digital overload does not mean cutting yourself off from the online world. This is not what it means. Many people understand it this way. It means that you should use your time and focus on something good that will calm your mind and give you control. You will be able to use the internet in a proper way and not keep scrolling throughout the day, and all this will give you a very good experience where your brain will not get tired, and you will be able to do a lot of practical things efficiently.
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