Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Nearly every aspect of our lives has gone digital. We work, play, relax, and even communicate through our devices virtually non-stop. With all of this digital interaction, bad habits inevitably form and we can transform into Digital Junkies.
This tends to look different than your typical dysfunction, without all the cars on blocks in the yard, jungle-level grass growth, and epic hoarder-interventions …but not always.
I’m sure you feel on top of your digital lifestyle, but let’s take a look at the following 10 warning signs that you might be, just a little bit, a Digital Junky.
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UNFINISHED TASKS
Yes, we all know that between working full-time jobs, taking care of the kids, parents, or friends, and just remembering to feed ourselves, sometimes things will just get missed. That is OK. What isn’t okay is when the unfinished tasks start piling up and begin to affect our lives in problematic ways. If your kitchen hasn’t had a deep cleaning this month, dishes overflow the sink and counters for weeks, the bathroom turned into a science experiment, or the scent of dirty laundry isn’t just a gag gift candle for your home, you might have a problem.
A healthy digital life requires balance. We will be intentionally sharing posts with you that highlight some of the important (yet often neglected) tasks that might get missed when wading through our digital messes. It might be more fun to play another round of a game or scroll your social media feed, but we have to balance that with a healthy living space, positive relationships, and preventative maintenance.
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LOST FILES
I know I saved that here somewhere…
Can you think of the last time you went looking for a photo, file, or account number, only to realize you have no idea where to find it? As our digital footprints increase, so does the sheer number of digital resources we have to juggle. Digital backups of tax returns, the photos we scanned at Grandma’s, and that password for the site we visit twice a year are all examples of digital items that can easily be misplaced.
Practicing good digital organization is key to reducing time wasted searching, space wasted with duplicate, triplicate, …bajillioninth copies of the same file, and ensures we can focus more on the things that are truly important to us. How is your digital organization game? Could it use a little work?
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OVERFLOWING INBOXES
It seems like every account, membership, and relationship requires some sort of email confirmation, verification, or authentication these days. While this does help us by ensuring we can get back into those accounts later, the fact those companies often sell our email addresses can lead to our own versions of inbox hell.
If your inbox has an unbelievable number of unread emails, spam messages pushing you for medications, insurance products, and overseas marriage proposals, or you just avoid it, there might be a problem with your email habits.
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EXCESSIVE NOTIFICATIONS
Bwoop! Ding! Swoosh!
If your day is constantly being interrupted by these notification sounds, and you notice yourself racing to respond to them, you might be a digital junky. Numerous studies have shown that productivity decreases when employees are switching from task to task, with significant amounts of time lost trying to get back on track.
Perhaps you are amazing and don’t respond to a single notification at work or school, saving them all for at home? This brings us to the next potential impact.
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RELATIONSHIP ISSUES
Have you ever been engaged in a conversation with a good friend or significant other, only to glance at your device and get completely sidetracked, often prompting an argument? The intrusion of our devices into these interpersonal exchanges has a significant impact both on how those people feel toward us, and we feel about our own devices.
“Did you marry me or that phone!”
“Dad, why do you love the computer more than me?”
“Honey…. You’re on there a lot. Is there something you’re not telling me?”
All of these are examples of comments that should prompt you to immediately evaluate your engagement with your devices, and if necessary, implement some hard limits to the schedule and frequency with which you engage digitally.
Image by Thomas Ulrich from Pixabay
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SATURATED SCREENS
Every new app, program, and file likely seems the most important thing to us at the time, and so we add it to our computer or phone’s home screen. When disorganized, this can increase exponentially until the sheer number of icons makes even looking at the device overwhelming. Simple practices like organizing with folders and uninstalling unused or outdated programs can dramatically increase your productivity and decrease the time spent searching in frustration.
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LOUSY PASSWORDS
We see it all the time. The dreaded “password rules.” Try again because your password didn’t include 3 numbers, two symbols, and an impossible to remember Greek character! So, too often, we recycle a password from before. Then, …it happens.
Site X has been COMPROMISED and your password is in the hands of the enemy! Abandon all hope! Update your passwords!
…which we don’t do, and so the cycle continues. If you haven’t been using suitably complex passwords, and updating them periodically as you should, it is only a matter of time before your account gets compromised.
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EXPIRED SUBSCRIPTION NOTIFICATIONS
I know, I know. Dang those pop-up reminders are obnoxious! Have you been closing out the notification box that is reminding you your antivirus has expired and it’s time to update? Or that your profile backup is overdue and then postponed it for the 7th (70th) time? Each time we do this, we increase the probability that the next file we click on or the next power surge to follow the lightning through our town will be the one that deposits a devastating virus or system crash, destroying all our precious data. We know these things happen, but we cannot remain complacent and just hope nothing will happen as we close the reminders of impending doom again and again.
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COMPROMISED IDENTITY ALERTS
Oh CRAP! Who hasn’t had this feeling when they see on the news, “COMPANY Z HAS BEEN COMPROMISED, AND YOUR PRECIOUS INFORMATION IS OUT THERE FOR THE WORLD NOW!”
I know you practice good habits. I don’t write my social security number in my front window in neon lights either, but that didn’t change the fact a Credit Bureau who I never gave my information to in the first place, still managed to lose my very personal and private data! If you haven’t received a notice that someone lost your private information, you will eventually. It’s a statistical reality. The question is, have you prepared for it? And if it has happened, was there anything you could do about it?
The need for Identity theft protection today is more real than ever before, and will only become more necessary as we continue to evolve into an increasingly digital society. Take action now, before your compromised data actually gets used by malevolent folks who care not a whit for you. Are you prepared? Are your kids and parents?
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POOR HEALTH
A final, and here in America – very common, indicator of junky digital habits is poor physical health. With obesity on the rise, diets in the gutters, and all these digital excuses to take care of it later, our collective health is approaching the level of an epic atrocity. However, there are some simple solutions. We can use simple tech to track our diets and make smarter choices. We can marry our misery, combining exercise with our favorite digital pastimes, and increasing the probability we will complete that dreaded workout or run we’ve been avoiding.
Image from Pixabay
TAKE ACTION
The time is NOW to do a digital assessment and see where you fall on these digital indicators. While we may shine in some areas, we likely could stand a dramatic improvement in others. Take a moment and answer the following questions for yourself:
Is my digital life getting in the way of my ability to thrive physically?
When I digitize, am I doing it deliberately?
How organized am I really?
How is my digital life, impacting my important relationships?
Do I control my devices, or do they control me?
Am I putting things off that increase my risk and vulnerability?
Have I already been compromised? Do I know what to do?
Has my digital life degraded my physical self, and am I okay with who I am now?
TAKE OWNERSHIP
Your digital life is your own. There are no habits we have built, that we cannot immediately set upon improving. Although we are constantly bombarded by digital stimuli, I offer you this opportunity to take this evaluation of our digital junk, and to step forward toward a better life, both online and offline.
Please join me as we work together toward a happier, healthier, more intentional digital life with Digital Dejunking!
Digital Dave
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