How Do We Manage Academic Digital Productivity and Wellbeing?
Here are some links from today's session on digital wellbeing and productivity
Links
Here's an article from BBC that is some good food for thought: "How to take a digital detox during the Covid-19 pandemic"
Another article that might be of interest: "Graduate School Prepared Me to Self-Quarantine"
Tips on Managing our Daily Routines: Manage Your Day-to-Day
Thoughts on Routines -- routines and productivity often go hand in hand, here are some highlights from writers and thinkers to hopefully serve as some inspiration:
Sounds and Productivity -- how much does our background noise influence how we work? Check out some options here:
Work Life, Home Life, and Balance -- how do we draw our mental boundaries from work time and leisure time, especially now when home/work feels so blurred? Here's an excellent TED talk I recommend:
Schedules and UnSchedules -- I am a big fan of the UnSchedule; now more than never we want to make sure that we do make time for our fulfilling, leisure activities, that in turn can ultimately help us be more productive:
Time Self-Audit -- Where is our time going? I recommend a time self-audit, using a tool such as Rescue Time (or Screen Time on Mac and iOS devices) to get a baseline of where our time goes, and see where we might be able to make some improvements in small steps:
Related to that, here is an excellent post by The Thesis Whisperer on tracking time as academics: https://thesiswhisperer.com/2018/07/04/academicfitbit/
Zoom Fatigue -- Zoom fatigue is definitely a real thing and don't worry, it's not just you. But what can we do about it? Here are some tips:
Tips for Eyestrain -- We are spending a lot of time on our screens nowadays, because they've become our work and social lifetime. Eyestrain can sneak up on us though, so here are some tips to reduce before it becomes a problem:
On procrastination -- This is a very good time when we should all try and give ourselves more of a break. Procrastination isn't always as bad as it sounds! Check out these helpful links for more:
"Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control)" via New York Times
On rest -- Rest is absolutely part of our productivity. Here are some links to think more about why we really do need rest, and ways that we can give our brains some much needed time off:
I mentioned some of the perils of late night social media use and blue light that comes from our LCD screens and the impact they have on our rest and our brains. Here's some additional information:
And here are a few links mentioned on managing our time, work sessions, and writing productivity --
"HOW TO WRITE 1000 WORDS A DAY (AND NOT GO BAT SHIT CRAZY)" via The Thesis Whisperer
The Cult of Busyness -- Can we get away from the academic culture of competitive misery? I think for our sanity, we can:
Social Media/Time Management -- I really like the Freedom App, and here's a blog post I did on how to use Freedom for helping counter our digital distractions:
And more on what I discussed on digital distractions and our news consumption habits:
Additional helpful resources -- The Center for Humane Technology is a fascinating organization, helping us rethink our relationship to everyday tech use. Here are some specific tips from them on managing our digital distractions:
Books -- Some additional reading from today's session, in case you want to learn more about any of the topics in depth!
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Bonus link to Tyler's Dog Bingo card in case anyone wants to play!
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