technology

Instagram Making you Sad? Here are Three Tips

~ Yasmin ~ Leave a comment

Hey Everyone!

Hope you’re all doing well!

I have always read and heard stories about how social media, Instagram in particular, can make you feel sad, depressed, or just less satisfied about your own life after you spend time scrolling through carefully curated and edited images of other people living their “best lives”. However, I never thought it would affect me until it finally did.

Ideally, the best thing to do would be to just stop using social media. However, if you are like me and you just can’t give it up completely here are three tips that might help:

Unfollow:

I know this one is pretty obvious but one of the most effective things you can do is to unfollow accounts that, in any shape or form, make you feel less about yourself or your situation. I know that this is much easier said than done because you might feel that you love these accounts and you may think you will miss them.

But you really need to think about how each and every person/account that you follow impacts you and for your own well-being unfollow the ones that have a negative effect.

From personal experience I can tell you that once I unfollowed certain people I did miss them for a few days but since I no longer saw them on my feed I quickly forgot about them.

Curate:

Your social media feed is what you make out of it. Many people only focus on the negative effects of social media. But the reality is that there are many inspirational, motivational and educational accounts out there on a wide range of topics and its up to you to find ones that interest you.

For example, I have three pet birds and I follow quite a few bird related accounts and most of these accounts post pictures and videos of their adorable pet birds and these always brighten my mood. But more importantly some of these accounts are very educational and informative and they have definitely helped me take better care of my birds.

Find Your Triggers:

This tip definitely relates to the first tip because its really important to take time to consciously think about how social media effects you. Aside from unfollowing certain people, its also important to think about other triggers as well.

For example, a few weeks ago it was the holiday of Eid (I like to describe Eid as the Muslim version of Christmas) and basically this year my family didn’t do much to celebrate.

But of course, when I went on to Instagram I saw all of these people doing all of these fun and amazing things and this really put me in a bad mood. In that moment, I completely lost perspective of all that I should be grateful for.

When it comes to social media everyone has different triggers. There are certain times of the day, month, or year that you may be feeling more vulnerable and it is very important to first figure out when these are for you and then alter your social media use during these times.

I hope that you find these tips to be helpful!

With Love,

Yasmin

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Here’s How Your Smartphone Can Save Your Life

~ Yasmin ~ 7 Comments

Hey Everyone!

Hope you’re al doing well!

I think that it is safe to say that nowadays most people carry their smartphone with them wherever they go. Although our smartphones can often be a source of distraction for us, most of them have a potentially life saving feature called Medical ID.

As its name implies, Medical ID is an especially helpful feature to have if someone is in an emergency situation. During an emergency, Medical ID, which is available on both Apple and Android phones can help first responders identify the patient, find the contact info for the family or loved ones of the patient, and especially help them learn a bit about the medical history of the patient.

The good news is that Medical ID is a free smartphone app. If you have an iPhone, the Medical ID app is called Health and it is the app with a pink heart on a white background. If you have an android phone, the Medical ID app is the one with a red star on a white background.

Regardless of what type of smartphone you have the Medical ID app will ask you to fill in your basic medical information about yourself such as your name, age, height and weight. It also asks if you have any allergies and if you are currently taking any medications.

I know that for many people, taking the time to find this app and fill in the information may sound trivial and unimportant. However, the reality is that we never know if or when an emergency may occur. As the saying goes: “its better to be safe than sorry”. I really hope that this post will convince at least some of my dear readers to take the time to find and fill out their Medical ID app.

With Love,

Yasmin

Feeling Overwhelmed By the News? Here are some Tips

~ Yasmin ~ 6 Comments

Hey Everyone!

Hope you’re all doing well!

If you’re like me sometimes you might find yourself feeling overwhelmed by all of the chaotic, frustrating, and often tragic new stories that you come across throughout your day.

Studies have shown that constantly consuming tragic or infuriating news stories can eventually lead to sadness and anxiety. Research has shown that negative news stories that may not be directly related to our lives can further increase our personal worries.

Here are just a few tips that can help you stay on top of the most important stories without feeling overloaded:

  • If you have any news apps on your phone, try to turn off notifications for that app. A while ago, when I had my news notifications on I definitely found it to be a distraction especially when I was trying to get work done because every once in a while whenever a notification would pop up I would be tempted to check my phone instead of working.
  • It is usually best not to follow live updates. Following a breaking news story may make you feel more involved but it doesn’t necessarily make us more informed. Live updates have a lot of commentary and extra details and its often more noise than news.
  • I think its best to set your laptop or desktop web browser homepage to Google or any other webpage with minimal distractions. I know that on many personal computers the homepage of the browser is set to Yahoo or MSN or any other site that has lots of news stories and articles. Every time you open the web browser you might be tempted to click on one of the article links and this can end up taking up a lot of your time.
  • This next tip is obvious: Read, watch, or listen to news stories that come from reliable sources. Here in the U.S. unfortunately, not everyone agrees on what is or is not a reliable source of news. However, I think that in general most people agree that you should be cautious of the stories that you read on social media.
  • Nowadays, a lot of the news programs have people that call themselves political pundits or commentators that come in and talk about and predict what might happen. While some of these political pundits might make valuable points ultimately no one can really predict the future so its best to avoid watching too much of these commentators.
  • I really believe that timing is important when it comes to consuming the news. In order to avoid spending too much time on the news its best to designate a specific time to check the news and try not to check it at any other time. Many experts recommend not checking the news before bed because certain stories may interfere with your sleep.

I know that everyone has a different habit or preference when it comes to the news but if you are someone that feels that perhaps you spend a little too much time on the news I hope that you find these tips to be helpful.

With Love.

Yasmin

Quick Tip: Sleep But Don’t Track

~ Yasmin ~ 8 Comments

Hey Everyone!

Hope you’re all doing well!

As many of you may know, lately certain watch like devices such as the Fitbit and the Apple Watch have become especially popular amongst people who want to track their overall fitness on a daily basis.

Many of these watches track your physical activity (such as how many steps you’ve taken), your vital signs, and the number of calories you’ve burned and even the amount of sleep you get each night.

First of all, I want to point out that I currently do not have any such device myself but I know quite a few people that either already have something like the Fitbit or they really want to buy one in the near future.

Based on the reviews that I have come across many of these devices, especially the higher end ones, are really quite good and they do for the most part, accurately track your physical activity and vital signs, etc.

However, experts recommend that the one area where these devices shouldn’t be used is during our sleep time. The problem is not that these devices may not be very reliable at tracking our sleep, although the reviews are mixed, rather the major problem with tracking our sleep is that this can lead to anxiety.

Tracking sleep can make some people obsess over their results even though these results may not even be accurate. Constantly checking and worrying about the amount of sleep that you get each night can lead to anxiety and this anxiety can end up harming your sleep rather than improving it.

And of course, this is why most experts recommend that people take off these devices at night for a more restful sleep!

With Love,

Yasmin

Deep Work: How to be More Productive

~ Yasmin ~ 6 Comments

Hey Everyone!

Hope you’re all doing well!

If you’re anything like me, you sit down with the intention of getting some work done and then before you know it, you’re tempted to check your phone and then once you grab your phone, its hard to put it down!

Even if you’re focusing on your work, you may hear or see a constant string of notifications or messages and you may then be tempted to respond and in many cases you do stop working and respond to these notifications or messages.

Unfortunately, every time we respond to an email/text or every time we google something while we are working on a cognitively demanding task, we pay a small price. In the moment we may not notice the price but overtime, it adds up. Basically, every time we are distracted by technology, it takes us longer to go back to being focused on the task we were working on and overtime this affects our creativity and it prevents us from reaching our cognitive potential. This phenomenon is known as attention residue.

Social scientists have tested this idea of attention residue in their labs. They gave their subject a task to do and then at some point they distract the subject by briefly making them look at something else, etc. When they then turn back to the cognitively demanding task , their performance decreases and it drops for a while.

I was recently listening to a podcast interview with Cal Newport, who is a computer science professor at Georgetown University. He has come up with the concept of deep work.

Deep work is an almost flow like state of work where we are only focused and concentrated on our work without letting anything distract us.

Cal Newport has written a book on deep work and in the podcast, he gave some of the following suggestions for how we can achieve deep and meaningful work:

Limit Social Media:

Newport claims that he has never had a social media account. He is not necessarily completely against the idea of social media, its just that he feels if he were to have a social media account it would take too much of his time.

For me personally, as a blogger and as someone who has family all over the world, social media is very important and I don’t plan on giving it up. In order to avoid wasting too much time on social media I would suggest choosing a specific part(s) of the day where you can check social media and I would suggest setting up a time limit as well.

Organizing Your Time:

Before starting your work, its important to create a daily schedule in which you plan out your day. Newport mentions that he works during very set hours during the day. One point that really resonated with me is that he mentioned: “I don’t let my mood dictate how my day unfolds”. Newport also mentions that great creative thinkers approach their time like accountants. They’re very structured and systematic with their time and they produce the most unstructured creative works.

Being Comfortable with Annoying People:

Okay, so this is one of the hardest tips for me to apply to my own life because when someone reaches out to contact me I almost always try to reply as soon as possible. Newport explains that he is someone who is very bad at responding back to others and he has set this expectation that he is simply unavailable most of the time. He admits that this has occasionally become a problem for him but ultimately it allows him to have a lot of time to focus on his deep work.

Although this tip may not be applicable to everyone’s lives I do think that taking the time to reply to texts, emails, comments, etc. should be incorporated into our daily schedule. By setting up a specific time we can still be social without damaging our work concentration.

Ratio of Deep Work vs. Shallow Work:

Not everyone works in a profession where they can dedicate long hours to deep work. Newport suggests talking to your boss or supervisor explaining to them what deep work is and then asking them how much time you should dedicate to deep work and eventually once your work is optimized your boss will see the benefits and this could potentially improve the workplace culture.

Reconfiguring Peoples Expectations and Channels of Communication:

You might be wondering, when you’re in deep work what happens if there is an emergency were someone needs to reach you? Or, what happens if you work in a very client-based environment. Newport suggests that some effort and creativity need to be used in order come up with different ways of communicating. For example, this can include creating an emergency number or a client email with someone there to respond at all times.

Shutdown Properly:

At the end of every work day it is absolutely vital to stop working and spend plenty of time relaxing and unwinding, with your family or however you choose to unwind. Sometimes, even after we have stopped working, its difficult to stop thinking about work. Newport suggests coming up with a mantra to help you stop thinking about work. Newport admits that his mantra: “Schedule Shutdown Complete” is slightly nerdy but it works for him.

Benefits of Deep Work:

Deep work and the ability to really focus on the current task is important to students and to many people who work in a knowledge-based economy where most workers rely more on their brain than their physical body for their jobs.

Deep work can also add meaning and joy to our lives. Studies have shown that people who are engaged in deep work end up being happier. People who spend a lot of their professional time concentrating on their work tend to enjoy their work more.

With Love,

Yasmin