Verified by 
It seems fair to assert that 2021 is the most anticipated new year in recent history. Weary and bleary-eyed, the world finds itself standing in January, navigating a fragile hope for a year of less suffering, strife, and shared trauma. At the same time, a quiet concern niggles at the back of our consciousness, wondering if we have the stamina to continue to do what we need to do to survive the lingering effects of the pandemic.
Quarantine has kept our embodied worlds small and the need to stay informed during tumultuous times has kept us tethered to our devices in uniquely dependent ways. We check our news feeds and social media before getting out of bed, mindlessly carrying the habit throughout the day and back to bed again at night. Bereft of water-cooler moments at work or casual encounters throughout the day, we rely on the “news” our algorithms deliver to us with blind adherence. Doomsurfing and doomscrolling have become global pastimes, sparking strong emotions that feel novel and exciting in relation to all the monotony.
More than ever, the experiences we have in digital spaces are much more sparkly and easily accessible than those available in our embodied lives. Since practice leads to proficiency, we’ve become very good at having our devices distract and entertain us. This comes at a cost. When we don’t expose ourselves and our brains to situations in which we must direct our own attention, wrestle with information critically, or tolerate stillness, we lose the actual abilities to do so at both neurological and behavioral levels.
The opportunities for tending to doom or falling into hopelessness will remain plentiful well into this year. If we can learn to focus our attention and direct it, working through the experiences that naturally distract us, we have a much better chance of thriving. To that end, here are a few ideas of how to build focus and direct our attention, building our capacity to experience hope and inspiration even in difficult times.
1) Add a password to your device, disable notifications, and/or delete social media and news apps from your phone. The simple act of adding a password may make us less likely to log in. In addition, when we limit our news and social media scrolling to a desktop, we are likely to access them less often and for shorter time periods. Similarly, determining a time or two a day to check media, as opposed to being constantly distracted by notifications, offers a greater chance that we won’t be sidelined by the release of dopamine we get when offered an enticing headline or social media ping.
2) Do one digital thing at a time. Digital multi-tasking takes an especially large toll on our ability to focus and maintain emotional regulation. Having only the app we are working in open on our screen will likely increase our proficiency and sense of calm. Similarly, using only one device at a time helps us mitigate the overwhelm that our central nervous system experiences by digital overstimulation. This means that we are benefited when we leave our phone in another room when we watch a movie or work on our laptops.
3) Make your bedroom (or, at the minimum, your bed) a device-free zone. This has the potential not only to impact the quality and quantity of our sleep but also to redirect our mindsets at the beginning and end of our days. We will be more successful at this if we plan ahead and practice new ways of using our minds between wakefulness and sleep. Bringing a paper book or journal to bed might help as would offering ourselves out of bed practice at meditating or using our minds for creative exploration, rather than worry, in free spaces. If this feels too difficult, consider banning social and news media access in bed, only using devices for music, alarms, books, or meditation apps.
4) Commit to two 10-minute, intentional device-free blocks a day. Preparing a space with a fidget toy, handheld game, or sensory material (kinetic sand, foam rollers, art materials) will make this easy. We can then set a timer to direct us to that space two times a day. When we arrive at it we can ask ourselves what we most need in this bit of restorative time. The next two points can help with this.
5) Find a way (and this may take a lot of work) to effectively “check in” with yourself. Given our access to constant stimulation and information coming from outside of ourselves, it’s easy to lack experience in knowing how we are actually feeling and what we are unconsciously focusing on. Doing any sort of “internal scan” can help with this. I like to use the “body, mind, heart” version where I ask myself, “What am I feeling in my body? What is occupying my mind? What feelings am I feeling or trying to deny?” It takes practice to be able to do this with ease and the payoff for doing so is huge. When we know what is going on with ourselves we have more potential for helping ourselves actually work through our feelings and thoughts, achieving stamina and regulation.
6) HALT when you reach for your phone as often as you can. Borrowed from the 12 step movement, this acronym can help us when we find we are emotionally spinning or mindlessly scrolling. Assessing if we are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired can help us stop habitual behaviors (like scrolling) that actually prevent us from getting what we truly need and actually direct us to resolve what we are lacking.
7) Practice redirecting your attention. Even when the demands on us are never-ending, the news is bleak, and our social media use makes us feel terrible about ourselves, we have the potential of being able to redirect our attention and soothe ourselves. By practicing redirecting our attention from that which hurts or overwhelms us to that which is either neutral or healing, we can feel a greater sense of agency and wellbeing.
Creating a list of things we are grateful for (e.g: shelter, a friend, a pet, sunshine) or, even, things that feel neutral rather than sensational (e.g: the sunrise every day, the presence of breath in our lungs) can help. This does not mean denying big feelings or realities but, rather, looking at them, acknowledging them, making a plan to address them, then directing our attention to other experiences and feelings that are just as real yet less painful.
