From emails to instant messages, employees can find themselves drowning in an avalanche of notifications, which can take their toll on focus and increase stress levels. Now, researchers at the University of Nottingham have identified a way to minimise the harmful effects of digital hyperconnectivity at work.
Mindfulness could be the key: this concept designates a state of consciousness characterised by focusing your attention on the present moment, without judgement and with acceptance of your thoughts and feelings.
A UK research team led by Elizabeth Marsh set out to determine the benefits of mindfulness on work-related stress. To do this, they surveyed 142 employees about their experience of digital work.
In particular, they were asked about their thoughts on the extensive use of digital tools such as email, instant messaging and video conferencing, and about the levels of stress and anxiety they felt about not being online or connected all the time.
The academics found that employees who practise mindfulness seemed more immune to the harmful effects of hyperconnectivity than colleagues who were less mindful. They were less likely to suffer from stress and anxiety, as well as “fear of missing out”, or FOMO.
“Overall, more mindful employees appear to experience less adverse effects in the digital workplace and have better wellbeing outcomes,” Marsh concluded in her paper, published in the journal PLOS One.
Notably, endless streams of notifications can lead to a false sense of urgency, leading you to feel obliged to respond as quickly as possible to every email or digital solicitation to show your responsiveness.
Our brains, however, react badly to this self-inflicted pressure: it’s difficult to switch from one task to another at the snap of a finger, which considerably increases the risk of mental overload.
As such, mindfulness encourages people to pay close attention to the present moment, and thus to rethink the reality of their priorities to get out of the vicious cycle of notifications.
Those who are easily overwhelmed are well advised to make to-do lists and set up offline timeslots, which will enable them to regain control of their working time and become more efficient.