In 2018, over 17 percent of employees suffered from burnout symptoms (TNO, CBS), and that is a high number, certainly compared to a few years ago. Modern (working) life is considerably more stressful than, say, twenty years ago, reports de Volkskrant.
Always Online
A development that could play a stress-increasing role in this regard is the omnipresence of digital communication tools. One in three employees spends the entire day on the internet for work. It does not stop there, as we are constantly distracted in between by all kinds of pop-ups via social media such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
And when we are on the train home or sitting on the couch in the evening, we simply reach for our tablet or smartphone again. Besides during work, we are nowadays also available to our boss and colleagues outside working hours. It is so easy to quickly send a text to that one colleague, and opening your work email to see if anything important has come in should be allowed, right?
Always On. The new normal
Being constantly "on" (and therefore constantly available) seems to have become completely normal for many of us. At the same time, we also experience it as a burden, because it can create a rushed feeling, cause concentration problems, and drain a lot of energy. costsOur brain cannot handle all those social stimuli and billions of bits of information, simply because it is not evolutionarily ready for it. It is therefore not surprising that digital and social media are nowadays seen as possible contributing factors to burnout.
Guarding your boundaries
Various initiatives attempt to curb our constant availability. For instance, since 2017, employers in France have been prohibited from emailing their employees outside working hours, and the PvdA proposes introducing the right to be unreachable. Ultimately, it is an issue concerning what we all consider normal these days, but even more so, it is about the ability to guard your own boundaries. Whether you are constantly "on" is a choice, and so is whether you are willing to run the risk of the light turning out on its own at some point.
HealthCoachPlus helps: Tips
Over the coming month, get started with at least one, or preferably several, assignments from the examples below:
1. Working effectively? Turn off every (private) social media channel so you cannot be distracted by it.
2. Not expecting an important call? Then put your phone on silent and lay it screen-down. Any sound you hear or light you see flashing is distracting.
3. Keep work and private life separate? Use a different phone during work than the one you use in your private time and keep business networks (e.g. LinkedIn) separate from private circles (e.g. Facebook).
4 Had enough of all those notifications for incoming emails? Set your email synchronization to twice a day. For emergencies, they can just call you.
5. Ready for the real challenge? On a day off, switch off your computer and smartphone completely for a few hours and make time for yourself. Do something fun, go outside, or get some exercise. Or just do nothing for a while and give your brain all the space and rest it needs.
Guided Exercise
The advisory council for the government, the Health Council, recommends that every adult exercise for at least 2.5 hours per week. Everyone agrees on this; Exercise is not only good for the body, but certainly for the mind as well. HealthCoachPlus helps you strive for that healthy physical activity standard.
Experience it free our Experience Training, led by one of our expert coaches.
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And if you take just as good care of yourself as you do of your smartphone battery, the chance of your light going out is a whole lot smaller 😉
Sources:
. Mascha Mooy & Maria Dekker, Bye Bye Burnout
. J. de Vries, Regularly emotionally exhausted: it happens to about one in three working people.
In: De Volkskrant, April 11, 2019.
. Hoogendijk, W. & de Rek, W. (2017). From Big Bang to Burnout. Amsterdam: Balans
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