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And how do you think this has affected us? On the one hand, information and communication technologies (ICT), especially in this last year of pandemic, have been incorporated to a great extent in our lives, and activities that were only face-to-face have become totally virtual. Certainly the new technologies, especially social networks, allow us to have an easier life and living in this situation we have also obtained many benefits. Many people found the need to learn how to handle the devices and connect to stay in touch with their family and friends, continue with their jobs and their studies in the middle of the confinement.
At the beginning, particularly as a university teacher, it took me a while to adapt to the distance learning modality, especially in the area of chemistry, but today I think it has been a challenge and it is the way in which we will continue to move forward despite this situation, and it is also an alternative for our young people to follow their careers and not waste time.
On the other hand, before reaching this situation, being distracted while working, eating, walking, driving because of the phone was unavoidable for many, even if it was only for a moment.
Being aware of the latest notifications, whatsapp messages, emails, see photos on instagram among others, can easily span from 10 min to hours, we are only aware of the phone and stop doing more important activities and remain hooked to the mobile.
This habit is gradually incorporated into our lives, thus decreasing productivity, taking more time and I think the most important thing is that we are distancing ourselves from the people we can simply have by our side. I have been able to observe how in family meetings, with friends, some spend their time just looking at the phone, ignoring everything around them and sometimes they go to a corner of the room and isolate themselves, surely if something is commented they do not pay attention to them.
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In the past, we were distracted either because we were thinking about things that worried us, or because someone else distracted us when passing by or commenting on something. However, these digital distractions today can be worrying, although we do not believe it they bring neurological consequences, the brain energy consumption is high, and this increases if the activities that are performed require a lot of attention. For example, if we are used to working with the phone at hand, we will probably check it frequently, this simple action makes us disconnect from what we are doing, so we have to focus again on the activity to continue. If this is done several times it can cause us to become mentally fatigued and we will have a low performance, we may tend to make more mistakes, to lose focus and not complete the task or we must spend more time.
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If for example you are doing exercises and you receive or make calls, you lose concentration in your activity and in the end the exercise is not done correctly, you do not take advantage of the time and maybe you do not even answer the phone properly.
It may be a little difficult to disconnect to avoid being distracted, but if we want to increase our performance here are some recommendations
It is better to turn off the cell phone when working or studying or answering a call only in case of emergencies. We must perform our tasks in adequate and organized spaces, it is preferable to place the mobile in another place to avoid the temptation to check it by having it nearby.
Limit the use of email, choosing the best time to check incoming emails and focus on what you do.
Avoid using it during physical activities such as walking or running.
Disable notifications, many times that information is irrelevant to us.
If you prefer to work or study with music, it is preferable to download the playlist and it is not necessary to download them at the time to avoid the temptation to check the latest music and get sidetracked.
If we are doing any activity we should stay focused and concentrated so we will be more productive.
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