According to OPORA NGO data, in 2022, 79% of Ukrainians used the Internet every day (and 100% among youth under 30). World statistics also confirm the trend of moving life to the Internet: DataReportal agency states in its October 2022 report that the average user spends more than 6 hours on the Internet.

With the increase in time spent on the Internet, new habits are formed among users that can cause stress: constantly following incoming messages and news, not being able to put down the smartphone and being “offline”, etc. The Rakuten Viber team, together with Alina Shumak, brought together the most important of such habits and shared tips on how to overcome them.

Even if the workday is already over and I am in a meeting with family or friends, I am constantly twitching because of messages from work.

Alina Shumak suggests three reasons for such behavior. The first is positive reinforcement from the professional environment.

As an employee, I am almost always open to communication, so my colleagues can give me positive feedback, which motivates me to stay involved. Such reinforcement can be meaningful not only in relation to leadership, but also horizontally; My community accepts continued participation as an unconditional standard of the profession.
– says Alina Shumak.

The second possible reason is general anxiety. In conditions of uncertainty, the psyche is activated to anticipate and solve potential problems, which creates an anxious background – this increases sensitivity to stimuli and triggers a series of thoughts on “what could be”.

And the third – high personal standards.

Because I am self-demanding, I cannot devote more space to myself, even outside of the work environment, because I am very concerned about a possible negative reaction or feedback that will affect my experience with myself as a professional.
– Explains Alina Shumak.

Between recommendationAlina Shumak, who can help beat such a habit, highlights:

• Set boundaries – separate work and personal time clearly.
• Set priorities – leisure is just as important as work. It also adds productivity. Pay attention to other aspects of your offline life that are important to you.
• Set the rules for using gadgets yourself. For example, you don’t look at chats at certain times of the evening.
• Analyze your own standards and professional expectations – adjust those that do not fit into the current reality, leave to yourself the requirements that are more in line with the immediate area of ​​​​development. You can ask yourself general questions: “Do I need to stay online all the time to be productive and achieve my goals?”, “Is this a guarantee of successfully completing the task?” et cetera.
• Use the technological means of checking the time on your smartphone, especially the “silent mode” function. Activate this mode outside working hours.

Turn off notifications for individual chats or groups so you don’t get distracted by messages unnecessarily.

How to turn off notifications for individual chats/groups: Open Viber and tap Chats → select the chat whose notifications you want to turn off → tap the info icon (Android) or chat name (iOS) → go to chat info and settings → enable mode “Turn off chat notifications “

When I’m online, I feel pressured to respond to everyone at once. Someone will definitely be offended if I don’t respond, so I’m neglecting my own resources for the sake of immediate feedback.

According to the psychiatrist, such a habit supports the general feeling of anxiety at a level where one’s own well-being begins to outweigh this somewhat outdated social convention.

There is a certain prejudice in society that communication occurs instantly in the online environment, which somewhat ignores the fact that a person can be busy with different things while online. This is misleading 24/7 availability, which we often translate into our own internal standard. If I deviate from such a standard, I run the risk of getting a negative reaction in my direction or having the painful experience that someone else may not answer the initial call.
– Comments by Alina Shumak.

Communication, in particular, will help to overcome this habit: by telling the interlocutor whether to pay attention to the question now or later, you can look at your own source and not have the interlocutor predict exactly when he will receive it. An answer.

If you’re worried about not being able to respond to everyone at once when you’re online, hide your online status. Note that hiding last visit time and “Online” status can only be enabled once a day.

How to activate: open Viber on your phone → go to the More menu (Android) or (iOS) → select the “Privacy” menu → “Displayed” and “Online” options: turn them off by unchecking the box.

I get a lot of information every day and it’s often hard for me to remember or find which tasks I need to complete.

Distraction is inherent in the overloaded information field in which we all live. To overcome this habit, it is worth paying attention to the priority of the tasks, as well as separating the tasks from the newsworthy messages.

Not to lose the most important things of the day and necessary connections, contacts, tasks, etc. use the “My Notes” function in Viber to always have it at hand.

To open “My Notes” in Viber: open Viber on your phone → go to the More menu (Android) or (iOS) → select “My Notes” → write a message with the required information (as you normally do for recipients) and send → the message immediately after sending, “My Notes” will be pinned in the “Chats” menu, and you can forward all important messages there and write yourself a reminder.

When I get messages from my family, I start to get very worried.

Along with the love one has for one’s closest relatives, there is a constant concern for their well-being, which often results in anxiety. It can have a strong emotional impact when your own or someone you know’s past experiences cause problems after an ignored message.

Between recommendationThe specialist who can help in this regard selects the following:

• Consider the value of a person in your life.

This will likely not relieve the concern, but it will help you add notes about pleasant experiences you had while receiving the message.
– says Alina Shumak.

• Focus on positive experiences.

Anxiety often exists within the limits of uncertainty and in some cases is treated with mindfulness. So the moment you open the message, the anxiety will likely decrease. Unless there’s bad news, try to linger a bit, realizing that all is well and you can’t worry about them for now.
– Adds Alina Shumak.

Taking care of information hygiene and a stable mood is not only our responsibility, but also our duty to ourselves. Paying attention to one’s own limits and self-regulation, setting certain internal rules and priorities regarding one’s own resources can help overcome the “bad habits” of online communication and become useful tools for maintaining psychological balance in real life.