When our performance drops and the more we work the stronger it drops, this is a sign of burnout. There are different kinds of burnout. One of the ways we get burned out is overstimulation.
We are connected to many people on many devices, each contact is yet another stimuli. Our brain has adapted to handle these stimuli, but the price is high. We are often tired and cranky, our immune system is weakened, we feel less open and available to make real connections. The increasing productivity requirements may reduce creativity and ability to learn.
Anonymous student:
I recant my last mail about not being able to remember. I have found that I can remember well. BUT when my system seems to be overloaded nothing sticks. Sometimes exhaustion can kick in really fast. When using the computer my brain can drain fast. When I step over that barrier and keep on working. I feel stressed out, nervous and not able to do anything anymore. Do you know how I can work against this?
We often advocate Pomodoro breaks, good sleep, healthy food etc. Your information diet is as important as your nourishment. Hence, we started to make ourselves <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_detox>digital detox</a> plans. While fool digital detox is unreasonable when handling 50000 students, I decided to use the following limitation:
- Two hours per day away from screens. Sports, driving, chatting, cooking – anything but computers/mobile devices.
- Twice a week half a day without computers. Usually on weekend.
- Two weeks per year without computer. Usually when traveling.
Jonathan and Anna have different schedules, but also detox digitally.
Now, I did not get better posture as a result. I am not even sure that my eyes get enough rest [recommended to travel outdoors and focus on far objects]. However, I feel significantly less cranky, more focused and more positive. I even sleep better, so I can feel that the <a herf=http://www.fastcompany.com/3049138/most-creative-people/what-really-happens-to-your-brain-and-body-during-a-digital-detox>research</a> statistics also applies to me.
Being superlearners we have much more reasons to plan digital detox. We are handling x10 more digital stimuli than our colleagues, we read A LOT each day, and we feel good (in “flow” mindset) working with information. We are probably so addicted to screens that not working with information feels a bit upsetting. My personal first reaction is sort of panic: I am bored, what should I do now?
Superlearning also offers a lot of advantages while detoxing.
- You do not really need to Google, there is so much already in your head… This is also fun with family and when telling jokes with friends.
- Typically we do not get enough time to analyze the week, everything that happened, everything that we read. If you can meditate twice a day, you do have the luxury to clean your mind, otherwise the information builds up… During detox time we can process this information alone or with family.
- We have heightened creativity and visualization, but hardly enough time to let go and focus on our creative drive. During detox, we can visualize much longer and more complex scenarios.
- During detox we can enjoy music and audio, which is very different from our usual visual processing. However, our visual processing is so good that we are likely to get visual response for audio signals – which is a lot of fun.
I love my family and cherish my friends. Being with them requires me to detox digitally. I love detoxing while traveling. All the mechanisms we build to handle information, become available to learn new environments and really connect with people. So I definitely recommend you some digital detox…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_detox
