Gabriela Mateo

REMEMBER TO DISCONNECT! We wake up and our motor neurons fire all the way from our motor cortex through our spines to send that tired signal to our hands and that metallic plastic extension that we all hold and check now and then. Phones are now part of our hourly repertoire movement, between swiping and snapping and clicking, we lose time, but more importantly, I wonder about the loss of focus. Is it possible our brain and nervous system is changing due to such an invasive behavior? Are we becoming a multitaskers that can no longer stay in one thought? First to the right, we retrieve those four to six digits from our hippocampi, an involuntary recalling, jumping from top to bottom, from app to app, email to chat, left to right, zooming pictures in, erasing and creating memories instantenously. I try to have a moment to myself in the morning, drink some tea, pet my dog, stretch. As soon as I open the endless notifications, my mind won’t stop skipping. It’s all day and all night. I try, and want to urge more people, to ‘disconnect’. I don’t think our brain was designed to socialize in such way, with so many people, without the face to face interaction, without hearing the voice of each other (cheers to all voicenote fans!). I am sure I am not the only one who gets overwhelmed everytime chats are opened, feeds are checked, updates are downloaded. We are definitely living in an era of overstimulation. I recently researched a psychological concept titled ‘detachment’. Although our project was in the sports setting (specifically dance academy), I believe every person that spends more than two hours on screens should understand the importance of detaching. German researchers Sonnentag and Fritz define detachment as ‘letting go of work related thoughts and activities’. Basically after your office hours, if you come home and still check emails, text collegues, and even continue thinking about your work, you are not detaching, which can lead to stress accumulation and decrease well being. In dancers, we predicted and it has been found that lack of detachment can lead to injury risk increase. It is clear that not detaching is damaging us in many ways. Currently, I feel that we all need to disconnect at least once or twice a day. Because our phones contain thoughts and emotions about work (or sport, or school), I urge you to have a few moments to yourself. It is necessary for recovery and will increase your mental and physical health. To keep it short, and reduce the amount of words you read everyday online, I recommend: drawing, mandalas, coloring in general is therapeutical. Yoga, pilates, surfing and sports, but avoid screen filled gyms. Reading. Drinking tea with friends. Videogames and TV if you really need the screen time. It’s simple to say, but in practice, it mostly comes down to being present. To consciously enjoying the activity you are doing and forgetting about all the notifications that will come once you go back to your phone. We are losing the ability to be in the moment, but we can avoid this by being mindful. Go ahead, look around!