Digital boundaries are closely related to our mental health.
That's why I have translated an article entitled «Being Mindful Of Our Digital Boundaries», written by Blurt Foundation:
Nowadays, many of us have smartphones and multiple social networks. This means we have access to a wealth of information at our fingertips, but it also means we're more reachable than ever, and instantly. The amount of notifications we receive from the digital world can sometimes be overwhelming. It can exacerbate our anxiety and leave us exhausted. digital limits can help us manage the way we interact with the digital world, which can ultimately help us manage our mental health.
Apps that show how much time we spend online
Before we start working on our digital boundaries, it can be helpful to have an idea of how much time we currently spend on our phones. There are apps we can download that show us exactly this. Many of them show us how much time we spend on each app.
Although there are fewer such apps available for laptops and desktops, we can find resources to measure how much time we spend on our devices, and what we're doing while we're on them.
Applications that prevent us from accessing things
Once we've figured out how much time we spend online and decided how much time we want to spend digitally, we can start using apps that prevent us from accessing certain things at certain times. This can be a work in progress. We may discover that sometimes we haven't given ourselves enough time to look at everything we want to look at, or that we feel like we've given ourselves too much time. Adjusting the way we use these apps is part of creating boundaries that work for us.
Phones and social media can be addictive. We might tell ourselves we'll just give our phones a quick glance, only to find ourselves watching cat videos half an hour later.
If necessary, look for apps that allow you to set notifications to remind you that you've been online for a certain amount of time. Some of them can physically block you from certain sites for a set period of time. In addition to using them on your phone, you can also download apps on your laptop or computer that can do a similar thing.
Use “Silent” mode
All phones have a silent or "do not disturb" mode. Some have both. All laptops and computers have the ability to mute the sound, and with many, we can now mute individual tabs while online.
The use of these modes allows us to choose when we check our phones or laptops, instead of having a «ping» to get our attention and make that decision for us.
Turn off notifications
Every app we install on our phones allows us to customize our notifications. Just as putting our phone on silent lets us choose when to look at it, turning off our notifications lets us choose when to check each app. We can also personalize our notifications so that only certain types, or those from certain people, pass the filter.
Designing our digital timelines
We are able to choose our own timelines (timeline or what used to be called a “wall” on Facebook), to a certain extent. The people we choose to follow make up our timelines, so it’s important that Let's only follow those accounts that bring us something, and that we don't follow accounts that fill us with guilt or fear every time they post something. Sometimes there may be someone we feel we can't unfollow (perhaps it's a friend or family member), but who makes us feel bad every time they appear. With these people, we can mute their messages. They usually won't know we've done it, and this allows us to choose when we see that content, rather than their posts automatically appearing on our timeline.
If there are accounts that keep trying to interact with us, but with which we really don't want to interact, then we can block them. Many sites and apps now contain ads, and while we can't control which ads appear, we can choose to block any offensive or false ads.
Privacy settings
It's important to know our privacy settings, and who can see the things we post. Each app and site we use will typically give us different options regarding our privacy. Typically, we'll need to make decisions about how much privacy we choose to keep our accounts. On some sites and apps, we may even limit the reach of specific posts.
Regardless of your digital privacy settings, it is important to remember that Anything we publish has the potential to be shared. Even if we make it so that only certain people can see our messages, there is nothing to prevent people from showing these messages to others.
Hide your phone
Many of us are guilty of mindlessly checking our phones because they're "right there." We may not intend to go to our phone for any reason, only to find it's in our hand and we've spent 15 minutes scrolling through people's posts. Taking the phone out of our pocket or off the table and hiding it in our bag, or even in a drawer, can prevent us from picking it up unintentionally.
Use a watch
If we counted all the times we've checked the time on our phone and accidentally started scrolling, we'd probably lose count by lunchtime. Many of us now use our phones instead of a watch. By wearing a watch, we are removing one of the reasons for checking our phone and we often find it is on our hand much less. Combining this with taking it out of our pocket and putting it in our purse can drastically reduce the amount of time we spend swiping on the screen.
Set a fixed time of use
Set aside willfully Having time to browse our apps and respond to things can help us be more specific about what we're looking at and when. It can help us resist constantly checking our phones because we know we have time set aside for that, so we don't need to be constantly picking it up and putting it down throughout the day.
Reduce expectations
Sometimes people get offended because we don't message them often enough or respond quickly enough. This can make us feel guilty and upset that we've offended them. Because of this, we often feel a level of anxiety and panic when responding to things and often feel that we have toto respond to people immediately. This can lead us to feel as if we need to keep our phones within touching distance at all times.
Letting our friends and family know that we're cutting down on our screen time and that they might not respond as quickly as they're used to can take the stress out and prevent them from feeling offended or worried when they don't get an immediate response. It can also help them understand that We may not read everything they post on social media.
We can also set a notification on our emails—both work and personal—to let people know we might not respond immediately. This can prevent us from receiving multiple follow-up emails before we've had a chance to read and respond to someone's original email.
Turn everything off before bedtime
Many of us spend a lot of time in bed, playing on our phones. For many of us, it's the last thing we do before going to sleep and the first thing we look at when we wake up.
This isn't always very helpful when it comes to getting a good night's sleep. It's often a good idea to turn off our phones a little while before going to bed and leave them somewhere other than on our nightstand (or in our bed with us). It is unlikely that we will miss anything urgent during sleep., and if something urgent happens, people will always find a way to contact us.
*In this link you can find the original article in English.
