Technology Takeover: Are You Getting Lost in the Shuffle?

Are you being efficient when you multitask and have every device going at once? Or, do you need to focus on one thing at a time?

Alvin Toefler was the first one to coin the term "information overload" in a 1980s book about the future.

The average American digests 12 hours of information and media every day. Notifications, emails, texts, pictures, comments, tags, posts, folders and files fill our days. Our attention is always focused outward as we wait for these things to ping us.

Taking time to reflect on your own thoughts and yourself has been consumed by the latest augmented reality game and the group text from your family. Silence is slipping away from you.

Our primitive brains aren’t wired for so much constant input. This takes a toll on the endocrine system and spurs overactivity of your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Our senses are saturated and we’re being overstimulated.

We’re losing touch with each other through this extrospecitve society.

How can you navigate this modern world? Set some boundaries. Turn off your phone at night. Take time to set your intention for the day before you turn on your phone and let your to-do list be taken hostage with someone else’s stuff.

Yes, we’re more involved with our online friends’ lives than ever before. We’re just not having in-person interactions. The one-on-one conversations are good for your psyche. Set up coffee dates.

Resist the compulsion to photograph everything you see. Take a moment to enjoy the present. Stop and smell the roses. You don’t have to have photos to prove it happened.

Try taking a break from your phone. The stimulus is addicting but you may experience relief without your phone. Put your phone in another room during meal time. Set office hours for your phone use.

Habits are more powerful than fears. Work on “me time” as a new habit. Stop stressing yourself out with technology.

Listen in as Dr. Holly Lucille discusses how to live a vibrant life while managing technology’s involvement in modern life.