Articles

The pandemic has brought about an era of social distancing, remote work for employees and an online educational system for students. Being an undergraduate student myself at that time, I had first-hand experience of this transition to the ‘new normal’. While the final year of an academic degree comes with its own challenges, the university and students became part of an experiment to determine the survival of the ‘adaptable’. The isolation and mental stress brought about during these troubled times, truly tested one’s abilities to manage time effectively, prioritize responsibilities, and preserve one’s mental health as well as manage the risk of burnout. This article, based on my own experiences, explores the additional burden digital media exerts on students, the pros, and the cons of such technology and how to develop a more mindful and healthy relationship with your digital devices.

The United Nations have said that climate change is the defining crisis of our time and time is running out. There is now a large scientific consensus that humans are the leading cause of climate change. We all can play our part and consume, waste and emit less. However, did you know that your online digital activities are not as clean as you might have thought and may have serious consequences for the planet too.

If you use technology on a daily basis, whether at home or at work, you probably need a regular digital detox, but you won’t necessarily realise it.

Most of us now know that we need spend less time on our smartphones and tablets. It is similar to the recommendations of 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, 150 minutes of exercise a week and 7 hours or more of sleep, and it can be hard to get into the habit of a healthier and more rewarding lifestyle. However, you may not be aware that you should also add at least 2 hours in nature per week to this list and there is a growing body of scientific research to support it

Our media, governments, charities and other organisations rely on drama to grab our attention and it can only do this by focussing on extremes. Negative stories are more dramatic than neutral or positive ones. They, like us, are predisposed to over-simplify, to imply certainty where none exists, and to divide all kinds of things into two distinct and often conflicting groups with a huge gap between them, when in reality most things are in the middle.

The inability to see something or understand how particular matters might be viewed because your culture and/or personal experience either blocks it out, or because it is sufficiently limiting to make it difficult to see alternatives and other perspectives.