Tech & No Stress: Keeping Calm in the Face of All This Tech
Working from home is pushing us all to be even more dependent on our devices. What can we do so they don’t drive us completely bonkers? Here’s a method you can apply to tech, but also to just about anything else.
Technology is here to serve us and not the contrary. To remain in control, allow me to present to you a method to overcome tech-related stress. It has five key elements.
Choose. We always have a choice to be master or slave, to be actor or victim. Choose your stance.
Breathe. This vital function also allows us to trigger the parasympathetic nervous system, that is, to calm us down. It’s more useful than tossing the computer out the window. Make it a habit of breathing before and after looking at your email and social media, for example. Breath in for a count of three, breath out counting to five. Repeat.
Ask the right questions. Why am I using this device? Is what I’m doing really serving me? Can I simplify things in any way? Does this need to be digital, online? Etc. These questions allow us to place technology in our lives consciously where it provides the most service.
Set up prevention strategies. With a few good security practices, we can reduce whole swaths of stress. Start by using secure passwords and managing them. Please stop using the same passwords for everything. And think about automatically synchronized backups of everything.
It’s astonishing how quick we are to trust technology, thinking implicitly that our tech is infallible. We trust tech to manage our daily lives and our needs. Remember, though, that in a relationship to a machine, only the human has a choice, the capacity to take action. So, it is up to us to think about security.
Learn. Tech is not magic. It may take a bit of an effort, but we are capable of learning and making the necessary adaptations. Becoming interested in progress and new tech allows us keep a positive perspective on technology. Why? Because the brain loves novelty. A little shot of dopamine from a new idea motivates us. It’s neurochemistry. And if we understand how it works, well, we feel pride and a sense of competence. Both reduce stress.