A recent speaker talked to us about work-life balance. On July 19 social worker
Nadja Streiter
offered an object lesson in why we don't have it - our overuse of personal technology. Ms. Streiter counsels people and families who have lost control of their smart phones, tablets and computers, some to the point of addiction.
Technology plays an increasing role in our lives. Who still carries a flip phone that only makes calls? Instead, Ms. Streiter commented, today's smartphones are "omni-competent" devices fueled by "appification." There's an app for everything, for making calls, sending messages, taking photos, playing music, keeping calendars, and more.
And apps give us access to our social media.
Yet overuse conspires to bring about "technoference," intrusiveness that
interrupt
s our ordinary lives, our relationships, meals, even our sex lives - interfering with a healthy work-life balance.
The positive is that technology helps make us more productive, particularly at work, where we use apps designed to make us more effective and efficient - though she noted that apps like Slack, which facilitates inter-company communications, can be overused to the point they create stress.
Technology expands our world, though the dark side is that technology not managed properly - mainly recreational - can become overuse, then addiction. By design.
If you check baseball scores, or play an idle hand of solitaire during dinner with others, perhaps you're overusing. If you ignore others at the table to attend to your phone, substitute video gaming for conversation, or binge on autoloading Netflix shows or flip from one alluring news story to the next before you turn the light out, you're on your way to addiction.
You've become a victim to FOMO, the fear of missing out - the scourge of middle school girls.
Such time wasters as these become addiction when you lose track of time, and, ultimately control of your life. You develop problems in your social life, with your family, even lose your job to your compulsion.
This overuse is a behavioral addiction, different in manifestation, not cause, from substance addictions.
Physiologically, both are driven by the brain's production of dopamine, a chemical that regulates mood, emotion and motivation, and causes people to start and stay with activities that yield pleasure or pain.
The phenomenon is described as Limbic Capitalism, a construct that holds that certain products create addiction by design - sugar laden foods, alcohol, oxycontin, slot machines and our screens.
Facebook is designed to encourage you to post something, then return periodically to see how many likes you've gotten. Candy Crush, Ms. Streiter commented, doles out just the right amount of positive feedback to keep you on mission. And YouTube's default setting keeps pumping videos at you.
All to maximize screen time and profit.
What makes them addictive? Accessible omni-competent devices, stimulating content, no natural stopping point. No last page. Always something new to click to - a new level in games, the next story, a score update.
But we do have an out. Ms. Streiter told us to be mindful and intentional. Change your habits - create tech time and limit usage. Turn off autoplay on Netflix and YouTube.
Curate your apps, perhaps delete a few.
She continued, don't make yourself always available. Don't charge you device near your bed overnight. In fact, don't leave it near your bed. Ignore it.
Learn where the "Off" switch is and use it.
Establish, or re-establish, healthy social relationships - particularly with your spouse and children. Get back to a little "me time," when you can be alone with your thoughts. Do things that require longer attention times, like reading a book (Not on a Kindle!).
Adding a little PSA, she recommended that if you do have a problem bring in someone to help you create a viable long term plan, whether the issue is recreational or business usage.
In sum, technology enhances our lives - as long as we control it.
