This Is Your Brain On(line)

#TheStruggleIsReal

Living in the age of digital technology as a student, employee, newlywed and home owner, my responsibilities are scattered, overflowing and overlapping. Whether I’m at work, school, or home, the Internet has a way of keeping me unceasingly connected to all the areas of my life, whether I like it or not. My iPhone is connected to 3 different email accounts; work, school, and personal, my TV, my MacBook, my calendar, my shopping list, Facebook and ultimately my brain. No matter where I am at any given point in my day I get to bring everything with me. Some people would call this convenient, but recently I have started to see it as a burden.

     

My iPhone has this neat little feature called the off button. Supposedly I can turn it off and no longer be bothered or distracted by the limitless stream of information that is constantly flowing through it. One minute I can be simultaneously reading an email from my boss, listening to my favorite song, while downloading the criteria for my final paper and receiving a text from my mom asking for the hundredth time how she can add an attachment to an email; the next minute, BOOM, nothing. In theory, with just a swift tap of the off button I am successfully disconnected, undistracted, and on my way to some peace and quiet.  My brain, on the other hand, doesn’t have such an obvious off button and long after I unplug, my head is still on overdrive trying to sort through all of the information my super smart phone and Google just left me with.

     
Just for fun, the next time you open one of your devices to do something, take a look at the clock. When you finally put your device down, look at your clock again, more importantly look at your browser history. How off track did you get, how quickly, and for how long? What were you originally planning to do when you realized that you had just watched 17 YouTube videos instead? A few weeks ago I realized by brain works a lot like Siri. I went to check the spring break schedule for the college online and my brain prompted, “Did you mean, "Which beach do you wish you were on for spring break?"” Two minutes later, instead of looking at my schedule I’m on the Travel Channel’s website reading about the top Caribbean destinations of 2015. 

This was the process that my brain underwent in trying to find one simple weather forecast:

I must admit that this is a condensed version of how many places my brain trailed off over the course of looking at the weather. So in this digital age that we are living in, how do we take advantage of the amazing tools that technology has to offer without being completely blissfully distracted by it? I wish that I could give you a hard and fast answer, but truthfully I’m still trying to find the balance myself. I find that even being aware and mindful of my time spent online, as I so successfully illustrated above, is the first step to evaluating what I can do (or NOT do) to maintain focus.

So how immersed are you in technology?   Have you found a balance where you can use the tools on your devices efficiently, but you aren’t at the point where you are dropping your phone on your face at bedtime? If you know the phone to face scenario all too well, it might be time to limit your tech time. At the end of the day we have to ask ourselves, “Is falling asleep while looking through my Twitter feed really #WorthIt to suffer a hairline fracture to my nose?”I challenge you to really take a look at how “plugged-in” you really are and to make an effort to not be at the mercy of the latest trending story. Perhaps start by asking yourself, “What was I intending to do before I stumbled upon this blog post?”

Please share your own thoughts surrounding this topic, tips you use to stay on task and mindful of your tech behaviors, or your overall opinion on technology in our society today.  How much time do you spend online per day, and what does that time look like for you? Thanks for reading, congratulations if you read this all the way to the end, you’re on your way to becoming more focused! 


Alex Claus, writer of this post is the marketing intern at Kalamazoo Valley Community College.