What does it mean to be digitally mindful?
The total saturation of social media, apps and websites today has almost inevitably led to a movement of “digi-revolutionaries” who promote the practice of digital mindfulness as a possible solution to information overload.
But what exactly is “digital mindfulness” and how can we practice it?
Dr Lawrence Ampofo, Founder and Director of Digital Mindfulness and researcher at the Royal Holloway, is one of the UK’s leading exponents of the concept.
According to him digital mindfulness is the key to companies embracing the digital age while maintaining focus and producing good work in an increasingly digitised age.
So how can we practice digital mindfulness?
Ampofo suggests several very practical ways that we can control the impact that apps and social networks can have on our working day:
1. App Notifications – these can easily be managed in smartphone settings. Know which alerts are necessary and switch off/ disable those which you know will distract you. This will take you a matter of seconds and could save you hours of time later on.
2. Stick to a work/ life balance – discuss with your co-workers and managers about switching off after work. Ideally introduce a company policy on checking emails or other social networks after 5.30pm (or whenever fits into your working pattern)
3. Full screen working – limits the ability of other apps or pop ups to distract you. Keep the mind focused on the task in hand.
4. Turn off email alerts – one of the easiest ways of limiting interruptions and putting you back in control of email is by disabling the alerts. Very simple to do – will take seconds but save you hours.
5. Choose the best tool to achieve your goal – email, IM, webinar, phone, meeting. Do not underestimate the power of human interaction. Often more is achieved in a five minute phone call or meeting than hour and hours of email or IM exchanges.
6. Limit the volume of information that comes towards you – very often we are in control of the amount and quality of information that we attract. If you are drowning, take action: unsubscribe from lists, remove yourself from groups that are no longer pertinent to your role, switch off email, log out of social networks during office hours – WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook etc.
Spend just five minutes doing some or all of the above today and see how it affects your concentration and focus….you can always update your status later to share your experience!
P.S. Emailogic are speaking at Digital Mindfulness Live (London Southbank University 24-25th May) Digital Mindfulness has gathered top influencers for some inspiring talks and panel discussions talking about the human impact of digital distraction.
Speakers include:
James Williams – former Special Projects Lead at Google, now founder of tech ethics organisation “Time Well Spent”
Rohan Gunatillake – The founder of successful mindfulness apps including Buddhify and Sleepfulness. Dr Meera Joshi – Mindfulness Lead, Bupa
Aidan Healy – Head of Learning & Development, UnPlug
Tickets are from £350 but they are available for £175 (this is restricted to friends of UnPlug and only valid until Sunday 7th May).
Contact Emailogic for details or click on this link.
