Unplugging is often impossible. Here’s a realistic guide to using your tech in a way that serves you.
A few years ago, a Google employee sent an email to thousands of her co-workers: What if for six weeks straight, you spent one night per week without technology?
The email was from Laura Mae Martin, Google’s executive productivity adviser, a role that, among other things, was created to help staff members foster healthier relationships with their gadgets and apps. After she sent the note, Ms. Martin was flooded with responses from co-workers eager for a respite from some of the very products they helped build. Thousands of employees have since participated in the annual “No-Tech Tuesday Night Challenge,” said Ms. Martin, author of the upcoming book “Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing.”
The problem she was trying to solve isn’t unique to Google workers. One survey found that most Americans say they spend too much time on their phones. But dramatic solutions — a digital detox, a phone downgrade or a complete exit from social media — may feel impractical.
Is it possible to have a healthy relationship with technology while still using it daily? Fortunately, according to experts, the answer is a resounding yes.
Start with one simple question.
You know that urge you get to reach for your phone without realizing it? And then, before you know it, you’re an hour into a social media binge?
If you want to peacefully coexist with technology, you need to get a handle on those impulses. Start by noticing when you have an urge to lift your phone or open social media on your browser window, said Richard J. Davidson, the founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.