If you work remotely, you may find it hard to balance your work and free time. After all, if your computer is just across the house or apartment, it can be tempting to be plugged in all the time. But what does this do to us individually? People who worked remotely during the pandemic talked about how they felt socially isolated and worked longer than others. So, how can we prevent this?
By prioritizing digital wellness and balancing our screen time and productivity with other areas of our lives, remote workers can take steps to encourage a healthier lifestyle. If you’re a remote worker or simply interested in balancing digital screen time with other tasks throughout the day, keep reading. We’ll discuss why digital wellness matters, as well as some tips to balance screen time, including how you can take time in your day to practice healthy habits.
What is Digital Wellness, and Why Does It Matter?
Much like well-being, digital wellness or well-being refers to how our digital lives help or hurt our overall health. So, for instance, if you are a social media influencer, your digital wellness would refer to how much time you spend online and if it helps or hinders your health.
Most people have a good idea of their digital wellness. If you spend a lot of time online, you likely have poor digital wellness, whereas those who can create some boundaries—like no internet or phone after eight at night—can experience improved digital wellness.
How we spend time online matters not only to our physical health but also to our mental health. With so many people working remotely, we all have to be mindful of how much we connect digitally and how much time we spend unwinding and reconnecting with the world around us.
If you feel exhausted after working at your laptop for hours, including experiencing eye strain, headaches, and increased anxiety, you might have digital fatigue. With the average internet user spending up to 145 minutes daily on social media, many of us probably feel digital fatigue occasionally!
How to Balance Screen Time While Avoiding Digital Fatigue
Avoiding digital fatigue is tough, but you can take steps to balance your screen time. First, you’ll need to separate your work from your personal time. Ensure you have clear work hours, and when the clock ticks over into personal time, you turn off your technology. With reliable internet, you shouldn’t have to worry too much about working extra—unless you have a big project coming up!
You can also take scheduled time breaks throughout the day. This isn’t just a break to check up on the news, which can be another stressor, considering we’re surrounded by twenty-four-hour news cycles on social media today. No, your break should be up and away from your computer, preferably in some fresh air. This can help you reduce eye strain and increase your productivity.
Other than that, ergonomic workspaces and proper posture are essential to helping you reduce digital fatigue and screen time, specifically the eye strain that comes with prolonged exposure to screens. But what do you do on those exceptionally busy days when there seems to be no end in sight for your remote work to-do list?
Tips for Enhancing Productivity Without Additional Screen Time
You might wonder, “How can I be more productive with less screen time?” Fortunately, there are several methods you can use to increase your productivity while keeping your screen time the same or even less than before. Let’s go over some of the best tips for remote workers utilizing reliable internet to get their work done:
- Prioritizing Tasks: This might seem like an obvious tip, but it can do wonders for your work and productivity. Task managers like Asana and Trello keep your to-do lists digitized and accessible, but you can manually prioritize tasks.
- Optimize Your Energy: Try working efficiently rather than consistently. Save deep work for specific times when you know you’ll be completing your finest work, then do smaller tasks when your energy might be reduced
Streamline Your Communication: There’s nothing worse than disjointed communication and constant back-and-forth between coworkers or clients. Set up times to check your messages and keep in touch without continual oversight.
Work on Your Own Schedule: If you can, work asynchronously to ensure your own productivity. This might not work for all remote workers, but it can allow you to choose when to work based on your energy and creativity.
Practice Mindfulness: On days that feel exceptionally overwhelming, mindfulness is like a good friend who brings you back to a calm headspace. You can use breathing exercises or short meditations to ground yourself and remain present.
Live a Healthy Lifestyle: As you may already know from experience, staying healthy is the key to productivity. If you remain active, stand regularly, and get some fresh air daily, you’ll feel better and perform better!
Set Aside Time to Disconnect: Once the workday ends, you should set aside time to disconnect from your devices. Spending all day in front of the computer as a remote worker gives you a certain freedom, but don’t be afraid to shut the technology down and enjoy some time just being present with those in your life.
There are so many tips you can try in your life, whether you prioritize tasks or shut down the computer and internet when the day is over and you want to enjoy some free time.
Looking for Reliable Internet to Enhance Your Productivity? Get Nomad Internet Today
There are so many ways to balance screen time with productivity while cultivating a healthy lifestyle for a remote worker. We hope that these tips encourage you to make some changes to your schedule! If you’re searching for reliable internet to enhance your productivity during the workday, why not try Nomad Internet?
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