Do you have a habit of pulling out your smartphone to check you Facebook when you have some downtime? It could be hurting you short-term memory.
A study by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden found that overexposure to social media can actually reduce your memory capacity.
Erik Fransén, KTH computer science professor, says the brain is easily overloaded when it browses social media and subsequently retains less information.
At any given time, the working or short-term memory can only carry three or four items,
At any given time, the working or short-term memory can only carry three or four items, Frans Fransén says. “When you are on Facebook, you are making it harder to keep the things that are ‘online’ in your brain that you need. You are reducing your own working memory capacity,” he says.
The bottom line? You brain need downtime. When it’s time to relax, don’t keep you brain active by scrolling through your phone
The bottom line? Your brain needs downtime. When it’s time to relax, then relax—don’t keep your brain active by scrolling through your phone. Or as the Jim Rohn said, “When you work, work. When you play, play. Don’t mix the two.”
How to Cut Down on Social Media
-
Plan social media breaks
Rather than checking your social media profiles on your phone throughout the day, set scheduled times to get updated. Use set time for social media and dedicate time for other things that would improve your thinking and creativity.
-
Time yourself
It’s easy to get lose track of time scrolling through tweets and Facebook posts. Try cutting yourself off after five to 10 minutes. Fine you plan social media breaks, but even if you’ve set an hour aside for social media. You shouldn’t be there for the straight hour. Time yourself, so you don’t get too engrossed and forget other tasks.
-
Decide what’s important
Focus on the networks that are most relevant to you. If you go on Facebook to scroll through newfeeds and watch funny video, but on Twitter, you get industry news and business guide from a particular account, then you should spend more time on Twitter. Also, consider which pages to unlike or unfollow and which friends to defriend to help clear up some space in your newsfeed or timeline.
Places You Shouldn’t Bring Your Smartphone
-
The Dining Table
Cellphones can be social tools, like when you look at a video together. Cellphones are very useful when you’re at dinner and you want to go see a movie and one of you pulls out your phone and looks up the time. The danger is when you just sit with it there, face up, next to you. Or you’re literally checking Facebook or posting stuff to Instagram while you’re with someone.
-
The Bedroom
If you live by yourself, you’ll sleep better if you charge your phone in another room. You won’t wake up in the middle of the night and check your phone. You won’t sit there until 1 o’clock in the morning on your phone and then get less sleep. But especially if you share a bed with someone, you really don’t want it there. Because you want to wake up in the morning and say ‘good morning.’
-
The Conference Room
As a rule of thumb, it should never be on a table or easily viewable when you’re with another human being. Use your cellphone responsibly and engage with social media responsibly because it’s an addictive thing. If it gets out of balance, it will really destroy relationships.
Share your thoughts!
The post It’s Official: Data Proves Phone Obsession is Bad –But You Can Stop it appeared first on DailyDigest Nigeria.