Source: McKonly & Asbury

We are living in the digital age, which means we are living in the biggest paradox of all time. Our lives hold a record number of unparalleled conveniences, and yet, general stress levels among many world populations have never been higher. Gallup data shows that about 40% of people surveyed in 1994 (right around when internet connectivity began to spread to the general population) indicated they experience stress in daily life. Today that figure is 49%.

Our hyperconnected world has gone from a wealth of information to a bombardment of ads, influencers, content, and other stressors. We’re constantly asked to read, click, buy, etc. In a digital world such as this, how are we supposed to manage our anxiety?

With the rate of change of today’s technology, it may seem like as soon as one worry is resolved, it is replaced by another.

Luckily, there are age-old tips and tricks that can be applied to today’s stressful digital age.

Understanding Anxiety in the Digital Age

When humans become stressed, we enter a fight-or-flight mode where our bodies physically release the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones raise the heart rate, put senses on high alert, and tense the body’s muscles. Our ancient ancestors went into flight-or-flight mode when they heard a stick crack in the woods because that meant a predator or enemy might be nearby.

Nowadays, the ping of a notification that then lights up with a red icon (a color that elicits a stress response), is the equivalent of the snapping stick in the forest. Living in the digital world is exhausting, and we are constantly threatened with information overload. Other sources of stress in the digital age includes the pressure to keep up social appearances, the continually blurring lines between work time and personal time, and the dependence on technology that can break or change at any time.

And the side effects of our digital age aren’t pretty. Long-term exposure to stress chemicals in the body can suppress the immune system, disrupt digestion, and impair sleep patterns. This can lead to physical sickness, absenteeism, and even death. It’s critical that we get ahold of our anxiety about the digital age.

Tips for Managing Anxiety in the Digital Age

There’s no getting around it – people are stressed. But there are universal principles we can apply to our modern situations to alleviate some of the stress and anxiety that result from our digital lives. Let’s look at some ways to combat stress and worry in the workplace and beyond.

Tip #1: Perform Problem Analysis

Before you get into a tizzy about something that happened in the digital world, stop and perform a problem analysis. Dale Carnegie says there are three steps to this analysis: (1) get the facts, (2) analyze the facts, and (3) arrive at a decision—and then act on that decision.

These three steps are critical in the digital age because digital mediums often obscure facts. You can’t learn someone’s tone through an email, which could lead to a miscommunication. Misinformation is also an issue in our digital world. When we see something that seems upsetting, we should verify the facts before we start to worry. Perhaps that social post or that generative AI answer was wrong. Critical thinking cannot be overlooked in the digital age for combating worry.

As Herbert Hawkes, dean of Columbia College, Columbia University, said, “If a man will devote his time to securing facts in an impartial, objective way, his worries will usually evaporate in the light of knowledge” (How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, pg 42).

Tip #2: Live in Day-Tight Compartments

The internet remembers forever, but human attention on any one thing is truly fleeting in today’s digital age. If something happens online, such as a coworker disparages your idea in a team messaging channel, brush it off the next day and move on. You can even shrink this down to hour-tight compartments. For example, turning off notifications for one hour may help you focus on work and be more productive.

Thomas Carlyle wrote: “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand” (How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, pg 3). Today is clearly at hand. Yesterday is gone. And tomorrow isn’t promised and hasn’t arrived. If you want to combat anxiety and worry in the digital age, live in day-tight compartments.

Tip #3: Declutter Your Digital Life

This is going to be a tough one. It’s difficult enough to declutter our home or our mind, now we’re expected to declutter our desktop and email. Luckily, we can apply principles from many disciplines to begin living a minimalist digital lifestyle.

The KonMari Method – made famous by international tidiness expert Marie Kondo – suggests separating physical papers into three piles: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely. Anything that doesn’t fit one of those categories gets discarded. You can apply the same to work or personal email accounts, folders of files and old projects, and the apps on your phone.

Once you’ve decluttered, commit to a “less is more” lifestyle. Cut down the amount of time you engage online or with a screen in general. Approach life as the moments that happen away from your phone or computer. Embracing a life outside our digital world is critical to our mental and physical health.

Tip #4: Rest Before You Are Tired

Drinking water before you’re thirsty staves off dehydration. Taking vitamins before you’re sick can help stave off illness. And resting away from technology before you are exhausted by it (physically, mentally, or emotionally) can help stave off worry and anxiety. How often have you started at the screen until your brain was mush and you couldn’t be productive anymore? Is the time of day that happens creeping earlier ever so slowly?

Screen time is up 60-80% from pre-pandemic levels, and “tech fatigue” is a real problem among all generations. To combat the anxiety that comes from technology, consider scheduling in breaks before you need them. Go outside and take a walk, read a few pages of a book, or simply sit back and listen to relaxing music. Too much screen time can cause brain fog, eye strain, and make you irritable.

“Unplugging” from our devices intentionally helps the brain recharge, even if it’s just a few hours of “Do Not Disturb” settings. Be like Henry Ford, who at eighty-years-old commented to Dale Carnegie, “I never stand up when I can sit down; and I never sit down when I can lie down” (How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, pg 236). Rest before you are tired, whether that exhaustion comes from the digital world or not.

Tip #5: Spread Happiness and Joy

This one’s easy: don’t be part of the problem. If stress and worry arise from our online interactions, then we are in control to ensure we’re not further exacerbating the issue. Alfred Adler used to say to his melancholia patients: “You can be cured in fourteen days if you follow this prescription. Try to think every day how you can please someone” (How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, pg 184). By concentrating on the world outside ourselves, we find that there is no space for anxiety.

When we make people happy, we become happier ourselves. We give our time, our money, or our commitment, and in turn we receive joy. A 2008 study showed that doing something for others (in the case of the experiment, giving money to others instead of spending it on themselves), make participants happier than those who remained self-serving. Go out and spread happiness to others; it will be infectious.

Learn How to Combat Anxiety in the Digital Age

As you can tell, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living has many amazing principles that can be as easily applied to our digital age as they were applied a hundred years ago. Dale Carnegie Training is also here to help. From Managing Workplace Stress to learning New Work Habits, you can learn to take care of your worry in this stressful digital world. Explore other courses at mid-atlantic.dalecarnegie.com.