In early March 2021 Laura was interviewed by John Waterfield, KPMG’s Strategic Relationships Director, for their new podcast The Virtual Commute where she talked about why digital wellbeing and management is so critical now and the role of the employee and the leader in building a healthy digital workplace culture. Listen to the 20 minute interview here.
The weeks of lockdown highlighted the massive importance that technology now has in our lives, personal and professional. But, as Laura Willis explains, our increasing reliance on technology has to come with an awareness of, and support for, its potential impact on our health and wellbeing too.
When lockdown was first rumoured back in March this year one thing became obvious – our technology was going to play an invaluable role in helping us to get through the pandemic. As we were asked to stay indoors and minimise all contact people turned to their smartphones, laptops and tablets to find the connection, support and peace of mind they would need to survive the crisis. Thank goodness for digital technology.
But as people started to experience the changes to their digital behaviour one thing was at the forefront of the Shine Offline teams’ minds: the need to encourage and support positive digital habits.
Check out the rest of Laura’s opinion piece in Personnel Today on the importance of good digital habits during Covid-19 and beyond…
As the global Coronavirus situation continues to unfold many of us are now working from home. This comes with its challenges for all. But for those with children this can be even trickier – whether you are home schooling little ones or trying to cope with volatile teens. As parents of young children ourselves, the Shine Offline team are in this boat with those of you out there who are trying to work out how you are going to do your work, deal with your children and maintain your sanity!
There are lots of people offering advice online on keep kids entertained in the coming weeks and months – what a perfect example of the positive power of digital technology! Our focus at Shine Offline is specifically on digital wellbeing. Time and time again we get programme participants asking us for advice for positive parenting in a digital age. We aren’t experts in this field – it is a very different ball game and there are many psychologists and specialists out there who have great books and podcasts on the topic.
In this current climate though we feel it is our duty to share our own knowledge and personal practises with anyone struggling with making sure their kids aren’t spending all day on screens. So here we go…!
These are frightening and uncertain times. For many of us we have become acutely aware that our relationships with others is what really matters in life. The distractions and entertainment possibilities that technology offers can drive us all in different directions under the same roof if we retreat into individual screens. Periods of abstinence from phones and social media as a family have the potential to bring you closer together. Talk around the dinner table. Play a board game. Curl up for a movie. In these troubling times, parents have an opportunity to redefine family life and carve out a new way of living for the younger generation.
For more information visit one of the experts on managing you children’s screen time at www.internetmatters.com
Good luck everyone.
Big or small, global or local, the same themes play themselves out when it comes to desk-based workers and the issues they have around their digital wellbeing and management. One recurring theme that is causing problems for most people is the role their email plays, the impact it has on their ability to concentrate, and the overwhelm it can cause inside work and out.
An amazing tool that has transformed the way people communicate email has brought a host of benefits to the working world. But with these come a host of downsides. An invention that was supposed to replace the fax machine and make communication much quicker and simpler is causing stress for millions of people every day. Theorists, experts and researchers are claiming that the reactionary mode many people are in, spending their day responding to emails and not being in control of their own schedules, is untenable and that something has to change.
While we wait for the shake-up and the “email revolution” there is a lot you can do to take back control of your day and improve your relationship with your inbox. Below we have outlined our favourite hacks for Outlook. Click here to read an excellent article on Computer World on better management of Gmail.
Hopefully you can see how at least one of these tips will help you start to adjust your email behaviour and begin a new, healthier relationship with your inbox. Good luck!
As work returns to “normal” after the August summer holidays, employers need to revisit whether, in a world of smartphones and “always on” connectivity, workers are actually getting a proper break from work while on holiday, argues Laura Willis.
The traditional August summer holiday period is now, for many of us, rapidly fading into memory and, as work cranks back into “normal” mode, it can at times seem like you never went away.
We all know there is nothing quite like two weeks in the sun to blow away the cobwebs and recalibrate. Lying by the pool, finishing that book, a day exploring some ruins, or just lots and lots of sleep and lazing around.
However, whether you took a break over the summer or are planning to beat the inflated school holiday prices by getting away this autumn, the real challenge from a health and wellbeing perspective is actually just getting away from that little device in your pocket or handbag.
These days we carry “the office” around with us. Digital technology, and in particular our smartphones, have brought so much flexibility to our working lives resulting in there being no need to be tethered to the desk to do our jobs.
The flipside to this, however, is a growing inability to properly disconnect from work outside of office hours – be that evenings, weekends or on our annual leave – and the growing worry among health and wellbeing professionals of the negative impact this may potentially be having on people.
Studies are already showing the impact of our inability to disconnect from work and constantly checking in to the office through digital devices.
For example, the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development/Simplyhealth 2018 Health and Wellbeing report highlighted that 87% of people reported that an inability to switch off had a negative impact on their wellbeing.
More recently, research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health concluded that working longer hours and weekends contributed to worse mental health.
The World Health Organization, too, has argued that by next year work-related stress and burnout will be amongst the world’s most prevalent diseases; in fact it has even classed burnout as an “occupational phenomenon” within its 11th revision of its International Classification of Diseases for the first time. The lack of boundaries many of us feel around our work technology is undoubtedly a hugely contributing factor to this.
The psychological rest you experience during a period of annual leave simply isn’t the same if you are checking your inbox regularly either because of an expectation from your employer or a self-imposed obligation.
If we are to perform at our best, and maintain some level of work-life balance, which is essential to our wellbeing, then it is imperative we bring some sense of control to how we are using our inboxes and other workplace communications.
So, what is the answer? At an organisational level businesses need to start to address this issue properly. Rather than what is often a wishy-washy, unspoken issue in most workplaces, employers need to consider putting some standards in place for staff so that they understand the need to have a proper break from work.
The relationship people have with their inboxes is often complex and companies need to support their staff to know they can and should disconnect from work. Putting the topic on the HR agenda and instilling a level of enforcement is key.
In the banking sector, for example, employees are forced to take two weeks’ holiday annually with no online contact so their employer can carry out necessary fraud checks. The unintended consequence is employees must step off the hamster wheel and take a proper break. If banking can survive this, there is little reason why others cannot follow suit.
At individual level employees need to reflect on the impact their constant contact with the office is having when they are trying to enjoy some downtime with family and friends.
One of the simplest choices all employees can make, regardless of their work or personal commitments, is to own two separate phones – one for work and one for personal.
By creating this very clear digital boundary workers can start to feel in control of their time and put appropriate rules in place as to when they are and are not going to be contactable.
Communicating the necessity and intention to take a real break is also important so colleagues’ expectations can be managed. A colleague who makes it clear they won’t be checking their inbox whilst they are away, and so should only be called in the event of a true emergency, is unambiguous about their intention to disconnect.
Businesses with their eye on the future, who are taking the health of their employees seriously, are already starting to put digital wellbeing on the agenda. As the world continues to get faster, and connectivity becomes ever-more the norm, is the time for employers to ensure their people are embracing their annual leave – whenever they take it – so that they return to work feeling rejuvenated, refreshed and ready to continue to give their very best.
References
Health and well-being at work, CIPD and Simplyhealth, 2018, https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/culture/well-being/health-well-being-work
Weston at al (2019). Long work hours, weekend working and depressive symptoms in men and women: findings from a UK population-based study, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, available online at https://jech.bmj.com/content/jech/early/2019/02/08/jech-2018-211309.full.pdf
Burn-out an “occupational phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases, May 2019, World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/burn-out/en/
We’re all distracted. The problem is everywhere. On trains, in restaurants, in homes, in business meetings and at conferences the temptation to check your inbox, tweet your thoughts or research something is too great for most people. It’s normal now for people watching TV in the sanctuary of their homes to be invited to “get involved” with the movie or programme rather than just sit back, relax and be entertained. At work, laptops are the constant companion of most people in meetings and with new emails or slack chats coming through whilst we are physically present our minds are often pulled away from the people we are with. What does this mean? Our attention spans are shorter, many of us feel overwhelmed by the constant stream of information, and our focus and productivity are suffering. And a state of continuous partial attention means interactions with those around us can remain shallow.
This isn’t going to go away. Technology is continuing to develop at a faster and faster rate and it is up to us to take responsibility for our own attention, wellbeing, our own tolerance for information, and make the appropriate changes to ensure we have a balanced and controlled use of tech rather than feeling it is controlling us.
Mindfulness is central to Shine Offline’s ethos of understanding our relationships with our digital technology and using our devices in an intentional way that supports our goals and values. We understand the impact digital distractions are having on people’s lives but also know that this is the world we live in and that it is up to us as individuals to each manage the role it plays, how we deal with it and how much we can handle.
Reasons why mindfulness is invaluable to thrive in today’s always-on world.
It helps you to exercise your attention
The origins of mindfulness are in Buddhism but for many people these days, including the team at Shine Offline, it is practised in a secular form. Many mindfulness teachers would describe the practise as brain training. A workout for the mind. When we practice mindfulness what we are doing is finding an anchor for our attention, usually the breath as a starting point, and bringing our attention back here every time our mind wanders. Practising this exercise regularly builds our “attention muscle” and ability to focus. It is neuroplasticity in practice – the brain changes depending on how you use it and regular meditators are found to have very different brains to people who never practice mindfulness. In a world designed to distract us, with notifications pinging and live chats streaming, exercising this part of our brains is invaluable in managing our own attention.
It increases our awareness of our thoughts and behaviour
Humans live on autopilot much of the time and one behaviour that has become automated for many people is checking. Checking the phone, inbox, slack, news, social media. The mobility of our digital technology has resulted in it being very easy to check our devices, and the work and personal information coming through on them, constantly. The simple practise of mindfulness can help to increase our awareness of our thoughts and behaviours and in turn help us to change them. Through the regular mindfulness practice of coming back to the breath whenever our minds wander we can start to remove the autopilot and live our lives in a way we choose. We believe it is no coincidence that mindfulness has risen at the same time as smartphone use – our devices constantly pull us out of the present moment.
It gives us a break from the phone
In a world where there is always a post to check, an update to read, an email to make sure you haven’t missed, having a really valid reason to have a break from our digital is invaluable. Getting into the habit of putting the phone on flight mode and in the drawer every day for 10 or 15 minutes to practise some mindfulness creates an offline space in our world that so many of us crave.
At the end of every session we run at Shine Offline we ask workshop participants what their biggest take away has been from some time thinking about their relationship with their digital technology. The value of mindfulness in today’s distracted world is one of the most popular responses. And we know, first hand, why. Everyone could benefit from just 10 minutes a day of focus on the breath.
If you fancy giving it a go we would recommend this short guided meditation by one of the UK’s leading Mindfulness teachers Mark Williams.
Oh, its 10.30. Time for a break. Think I’ll go and stick the kettle on and have a coffee and see if there’s any of that birthday cake left in the kitchen. Be good to catch up with Megan too and see how she is after that run in with Simon in the ops meeting. Phone in hand, ready to go…
Sound familiar? We all need breaks in our days. At work they’re vital if we want to perform at our best and not become overwhelmed. We are all taking so much information in during our working day that stepping away from the desk to allow some time to recalibrate is really important. And although many people still do this something has fundamentally changed – the presence of the smartphone.
These days a lot of us habitually carry our phone around with us everywhere we go. It’s an extension of ourselves. And as a result during our break times we are still processing information – be that scrolling through news or social media, whatsapp chats or even our work inbox! The chance for a proper break away to allow the mind to wander, have some rest and some downtime, just isn’t the same.
In today’s always-on, digitally distracted world many psychologists and psychiatrists are reiterating the importance of breaks. Shine Offline’s associate Consultant psychiatrist Dr Ian Drever from Esher Groves clinic says:
“Being on a screen and multitasking makes us feel good. It gives us the illusion of productivity, but it’s all a bit of an empty sugar rush. All that’s happening is that we’re rewarding the novelty-seeking part of our brain by jumping around from one task to the next.
The real results come from sustained, focused, big-picture effort. This kind of work is hugely aided by switching off and having time away from screens, devices and distractions.”
If we are habitually checking news and social media during our break times this could be having a fundamentally negative impact on our mood. There are various scientific studies that demonstrate that social media use can have a negative impact on how we feel. And although called “social media” the vast majority of time spent on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is extremely passive. Research has shown the amount of active, non-passive social media use that occurs on is staggeringly low. 0.09% on Facebook, 1.6% on Instagram, and 0.048% on Twitter.
And in turn passive use of social media has been found to have a negative impact on our mood.
Research has found that batching notifications so that they are received at schedules throughout the day can have a positive affect on mood but at Shine Offline we would advise people to be sure not to spend all of their break times on their devices.
By all means stay up to date with the news or what your friends are up to on social media but be sure to have some screen free breaks throughout the day. As Dr Ian says, we work at our best when we have these breaks throughout the day.
Stepping away from the computer, leaving the phone behind and going outside for a change of scene and a chance to clear your head is priceless during a morning, lunchtime or afternoon break. The value of “forest bathing”, the Japanese term for immersing yourself in green space, has gained a lot of interest in the past few years with research showing the benefits to wellbeing of spending time in nature. If your office isn’t in the middle of the woods however just stepping outside and spending some time in a green space can have similar benefits. And of course, leaving the potentially distracting influence of your phone at your workstation and catching up with a colleague can also be incredibly valuable when it comes to developing good relationships at work.
Tech writer and consultant Linda Stone coined the term Continuous Partial Attention back in 1998 as the behaviour of continuously dividing one’s attention. And psychologists report that if we have our smartphone in our hand or pocket at all times many of us are suffering from this condition as a result. Chatting to a colleague on a break, phone in pocket, a little part of our brain is always on the device, wondering when it is going to go off or what is waiting in there for us. And as a result we simply can’t give ourselves over 100% to the person we are with, the thing we are doing. Or immerse ourselves fully in some alone time during a break.
As humans we need breaks. Time to refresh and reload. So after you finish reading how about sticking your phone in the drawer and heading to the kitchen for a cuppa and slice of cake? Your head will thank you for it!
References:
Passive use of email
https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/2019-social-media-benchmark-report/
https://cognitiontoday.com/2019/08/effect-of-social-media-on-mental-health-well-being/
Batch but still have a break
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563219302596
Forest bathing
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/08/forest-bathing-japanese-practice-in-west-wellbeing
If you want to be in control of your digital wellbeing by lowering workplace overwhelm and improving your performance then getting yourself used to doing Deep Work is imperative. We talk about this in our learning programmes at Shine Offline and use this discipline daily as a team. Our inspiration comes from academic and author Cal Newport, whose brilliant book Deep Work defines the practise as “…the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task”.
It has been proven that multitasking is a myth. The human brain is not capable of focusing on two things at once. Instead what we do is ‘task flitting’, a practise that makes us less productive as we lose time regaining concentration after each interruption. And is it any wonder that we are all flitting between tasks and find it difficult to focus when we live in a world of distraction?
For example, some recent research found that 70% of work email was opened within 6 seconds. It is normal these days to work in response mode, ready to jump at every incoming email, each ping of the smartphone or switch to another tab on the computer when we hit a challenging task. These constant distractions and connectivity is not only unhelpful it is damaging. Staying in a perpetual “shallow” state of work trains your brain in distraction making it increasingly difficult to concentrate. This means many of us rarely get in a state of flow, the state where we produce our best work, are happiest and find purpose. If you can master the skill of finding your flow and learn to focus in a distracted world this can help increase your digital wellbeing and help you to really shine in your work.
Start to follow these three simple steps and you’ll find yourself working a more focused way.
Remember it is in your power to transform your mind and habits, to reclaim your focus and escape from constantly being in reactive and response mode.
Constantly checking and fiddling with your phone can wreck your workout. Have a look at our top tips on why you should consider taking a break from your emails and Instagram feed when exercising.
1. GET INTO THE ZONE
You can’t get the most from your work out and get into the ‘zone’ if you allow your phone to distract and interrupt you. Just as you can’t concentrate on completing a piece of work or reading a book if your phone is constantly pinging, vibrating and flashing from notifications. If you find the idea of being parted from your phone really tough why don’t you ‘reward’ yourself with a smartphone fix at the end of a tough workout – you can lose yourself in your Instagram feed (or email, or snapchat, or game) guilt free knowing that you have earned the indulgence.
2. TUNE INTO YOUR BODY
Exercises like Yoga and Thai Chi which are centred on mental focus as well as physical control and strength are great for cognitive development, managing stress and mental health. You can apply this focus to any exercise that you do, be that lifting weights in the gym or running in the park. Remove all digital distractions, concentrate on your breath and tune into your movements and you can give your mind a healthy work out at the same time as your body.
3. LOOK UP
If you leave your phone on, interact with it or let it distract you whilst exercising you are more likely injure yourself. Actually using your phone to change songs, text, browse or call will effect your balance and stability meaning the likelihood of an embarrassing fall from the treadmill, never mind distracted joggers running into traffic.
4. GO NAKED!
Beware fitness apps, whilst they can be useful to motivate and track your training they can also be addictive and disassociate you from what your body is telling you. I became so fixated on the data from running apps, concerned about my mileage, speed, performance that I failed to listen to my body and ran into injury. I now run naked! Not NAKED, naked but without a watch, a phone or a running app. I feel much more in tune with my body, my performance has improved and I am coming back from runs refreshed and rejuvenated. You can read more here about my marathon training without technology here.
5. OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND
If you really can’t be parted with your phone, or feel it offers security when you are running outside for example, at least have it zipped away. Turn it off, switch it to flight mode or try using apps that will disable the use of the functions on your phone (some that we love are here). OFFTIME for example is an app that lets you choose what functions you need to use within a defined period of time and disable the rest. So you could still listen to Spotify for example during your workout. Just remember to prepare your playlist in advance and keep your phone zipped in a pocket so you aren’t tempted to let it distract you.
6. DITCH THE GYM SELFIES
No one looks at their best red faced and sweaty. Remember that fitness is not just about looking good – feel the strength in your own body and focus on what it can do, rather than how you look and you’ll get a lot more out of your work out.
7. FIND A NEW DOPAMINE HIT
If you find it agonising to be parted with your phone for even a short workout it may mean that you have developed a behavioural addiction. So what does this mean? Dopamine floods the brain when you engage in social media, gaming, online shopping or whatever your particular smartphone vice is. Professor Greenfield who is the founder of a technology addiction clinic has said we are all carrying around ‘portable dopamine pumps’. If you are addicted, abstinence is hard so you need to think of healthier ways to get your dopamine fix. What better way of naturally boosting your dopamine levels than through exercise? Be brave and go for a tough work out without the tech, keep the phone off whilst you shower and get dressed, let your mind run free. You may just find a more fulfilling natural high than the one you are seeking when you obsessively swipe and tap a screen.
At Shine Offline we value the role of digital technology in our lives and are working to assist people in using it more mindfully as opposed to not using it at all. By questioning our relationship with technology, changing our habits and setting a Shining example to those around us, we can start to really reconnect with ourselves and others and live a better, more balanced life.
It’s up to managers to make sure employees disconnect from work – only with the support of line managers will workers be able to manage digital distractions and balance their work and home lives, writes Anna KotwinskiLet’s think back to a time when our working likes were very different to how they are today. We don’t have to rewind too far…
It’s 1999. When an employee leaves the office at the end of a busy day, shuts down their computer for the weekend, or smugly composes an out of office message before a holiday, they also leave work behind. And now? The majority of us are carrying our work around in our pockets – to the pub, to the family meal table, and often to the beach or ski slope.
The smartphone has completely transformed the way we do business. It has provided incredible opportunities for flexible working, but that flexibility has come at a high cost. A culture has developed where employees increasingly feel the need to be available around the clock, where responsiveness is too often equated to commitment, and boundaries between professional and personal life are blurred like never before. Employees choosing to work long hours to get ahead is nothing new, but in a new digital age where individuals can be contactable and engage 24/7, arousal levels are continually peaked and the mind has no time for recovery. Dr Almuth McDowall, a psychologist at the University of London, has warned that these behaviours are not sustainable and that the effects on wellbeing and danger of burnout are the same whether the expectation to be available is explicit, implicit or self-imposed.
Time and time again, people tell us about the trouble they have disconnecting from work; the impact this has on their personal relationships and families; how it increases stress; and suffering the compulsion to ‘just check’ their messages on holidays and weekends.
Read the full article here