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Finding your Balance Part 2

Finding your Balance - part 2- Technology Overuse

Recap

In part 1 of this series we covered how balance is much more than just our work life balance but involves every part of our lives. Many of us have our balance being thrown off by some of the most innocent of things that can in many cases be a good thing if it's not happening too often. Examples of this are all around us everyday from how much food we eat, how much we drink, to how much time we spend doing certain things over every other aspect of our lives. As mentioned a great deal in Part 1 Work Life Balance is just the most visible and talked about part of our life’s balance issue and one that many of us struggle with. Also as mentioned in part 1 of this series is the exact opposite to work life balance which is our “Fun and Recreation balance.” If I spend all of my time playing video games, or going out with friends and too little time working then my life can suffer detrimentally by being off balance. Sure we are probably in the moment going to feel great with this balance issue but, we are likely going to suffer for it eventually. Examples to this would be when bills are not being paid we will later feel the stress from that or If we are later struggling to pay for food for ourselves or our loved ones we are going to feel a large strain and quite possibly suffer from regret. In many cases nothing is worse than when we realize we are hurting the ones we love and in this case we may not entirely understand how we are doing it but it's through our life being out of balance.

Again our life balance issues can be disguised as good things making them hard to point out. I have myself been the one to struggle with work life balance so not only do I understand through personal life experiences, I have also recognized it in others to the point where I have even said out loud to friends that we have to take a step back from work eventually and spend time with our families. We have to go on those vacations. I remember a conversation with a friend who, like me, suffers from work life balance as I mentioned that none of us want our kids to grow up with their only real vivid memory about us as parents is that we worked a lot. Even worse, they may remember that we were never around. That same ideology, while true, can have the reverse effect. Suddenly you're spending all of your money and time going on vacations, trips, and so on to the point where your work isn't being performed. Perhaps to the point where you have lost your position at work, and money is not enough or no longer coming in at all to pay bills or put food on the table so to speak. While in this example our loved ones have our quality time but they are now hurting because we are struggling to provide the things they need to survive. That is key to the balance because not only do we need to spend time with our loved ones we also need to find a way to perform our various work that will also provide for them as well.

Even though so far those are the two primary points mentioned in this series we also have to keep in mind that there are many more than just those two elements of our life balance. As mentioned in part 1 they can include many things from Spiritual, Friends, Family, Finances, Career, and much more. In the end, while there are some aspects of life balance that probably universally affect everyone, it's up to how we live our lives if some things are a part of our life balance at all. It's through personal analysis that we find what parts of our lives are being overlooked while other parts of our lives are taking over. In part 1 we ended with a focus on how technology has become a new element in many of our lives that tends to be very quickly taking over our lives. We probably have all experienced or at least seen people at the dinner table who won't speak very many words if any at all to their loved ones while they stare at their phones. That is a clear example of technology take over. Despite that it was also covered that technology can also be a tool to help us retake our lives as well even from technology. How can technology help me reclaim my life when it also can be an element that so easily absorbs so much of my life?

Reclaiming Our Lives Step One

That is a great question but before we can use that technology we have to cover step one first. With that being said both parts of the first step however have to be taken from a psychological level. The first part of step one is making sure technology is truly what is throwing off your balance, and also making sure that it is the only thing as well. Most of our lives are a vast collection of many different things that absorb all of our time. In a near or completely perfectly balanced life no one or few things are going to seemingly absorb everything we are and everything is going to be fairly evenly distributed. If we analyze our lives and find that technology is a big part of our balance issue but spending money is an issue as well we will have to address that as well unless those two issues are somehow inherently linked to one another. For this particular article we primarily focus however on the technology side of balance so while the assistance of technology can help with that as well the assessment aspects are primarily focused on getting away from our technology absorbing so much of our lives. After this probably very hard soul searching we should be able to determine what and how many parts of our lives are throwing off our balance and we can move on to the second part of step one.

Keep in mind that the second part of step one in this case is mostly geared under the assumption that our balance is being thrown off by technology. While with other balance issues technology can still be a great tool for change, this particular part of step one is more for those that want to use technology to correct at least one balance issue that is present in their lives due to overuse of that technology. We have to take a step back and realize that no matter what we are using that technology for it is still simply a tool. Whether it's a play tool, a work tool, or otherwise our technology is still a tool. One of the Oxford Dictionary definitions of technology is, “machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge.” While many of us love what technology does for us in so many ways to the point where we forget what it truly is, in the end technology is a tool that was developed with the intent for us to use it to perform certain tasks or make our lives easier and more efficient. It's a tool that can be used to give us pleasure like when we play video games or watch that big game. It can be a tool to help us fix or build something. It can even be a tool to help us perform our various works in a quicker or more efficient method. No matter what category we fall into with our use of technology whether it's listed here or not the technology we are using is still a tool. That can be a hard admission when so many of us use technology in our everyday lives to the point where we talk to it to do even simple things like adjust our home's comfort levels or light settings.

For some it would seem technology is being used nearly every waking moment. Communication tools for example such as Social Media sites tend to entice many to stay on their electronic devices an incredible amount of time. Studies have shown that some users have such a strong need to be on Social Media that they have a mental drive to recheck their social media account almost the instant they put their phone down. In those studies they are typically associating this behavior to a person suffering from a form of addiction. Some studies have shown that obsessive use of technology can have similar effects on the body like drugs as it activates the reward centers of the brain. This oftentimes occurs related to receiving recognition on social media such as getting likes or follows. While this may be a more extreme case than we are generally covering in this article it still means that for some it's going to be a hard sell to accept that an item that they have trouble putting down for more than a few moments to suddenly accepting that device is simply a tool like my network diagnostic tool I use nearly everyday or a screwdriver! That is what makes step one so hard and not the easiest of steps to accept and convey. It is also why it can be so hard for us to reclaim our lives to achieve a near or totally perfect balance related to technology if we are also going to use that very technology to help us do so. It's for this reason that if someone is showing signs of addiction to that very technology they may want to consider finding a different method other than using technology to reclaim their life balance to include but not limited to seeking professional assistance. If you suffer from balance issues however without suffering from this level of addiction, technology can be a part of your answer!

Starting the Process

Step 2 may actually be a lot easier than the serious soul searching we all have to do during step one. Step one is hard as we have to do all of that self analysis to first look deep at our daily lives to find what one or more items may be throwing off our balance. We have to be frank about those issues if we are going to find a true solution. It's not always easy to be honestly critical of our own lives. If we leave things out or put things to the side to be ignored when they may be a part of that problem then step one ultimately remains incomplete. If step one is incomplete then anything done in the following steps are most likely going to be considered unsuccessful. In step two it becomes necessary to, if you're not already, become extremely organized. Find everything that you do and put it together in an organized fashion. For me this is where technology shines. I personally like to use shared calendars, documents, and so on. I do have a personal calendar that is setup for me to see only but I can't remember the last time I used it to keep track of anything. I pretty much exclusively use multiple calendars on my device so that way I can easily communicate with my family and team members my schedule, where I am going to be, and what tasks I am completing. This pretty much preemptively helps cover one of the other steps which is communication. We can not be successful at balance if we do not remain organized and if we are not successful at communicating with the people in our lives whether they are in our personal or professional lives. Through the use of these calendars we can more easily set aside time to step away from that technology. That's right, we can actually use our technology to help communicate to ourselves and others when its time to put that technology to the side. This is important because its so easy to get caught up in the day to day activities that we are already getting ready to go to bed and realize we haven't taken any time out till that very moment. When we are going all day, or using our electronics all day, and only putting them down when we are going to bed for the night its a fair conclusion that at least in some aspect we suffer from the very problem we are talking about. So by scheduling time to step away from that technology and do other things such as spend time with loved ones you are also regaining a part of your life balance. You can use whatever applications that work for you, your family, and your team. We all have our preferences and to be honest, all joking to the side, there probably isn't a right or wrong answer. Use what works for you but make sure it works. More on Steps two and beyond in part 3 of this blog series.

Walter Kiser 10/15/2024

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