Mind Over Media

By Jennifer Fetterly

Warning: May cause anxiety, depression, memory loss, irritability and a whole list of other troubles.

It’s a caution to the endless stream of COVID-19 news, the presidential election, economic woes and societal problems arriving each second via social media, email, texts and TV.

It’s cyber overload, and media expert Joanne Cantor, Ph.D. says it can dull the brain and sap a person’s energy. Cantor says coping is the key, “Tune in to catch up, but don’t do it all day because that will just multiply your fight or flight reaction, and your mind will be upset.”

I spoke with Cantor, a retired UW-Madison communications professor in July, eager to write a story on cyber overload to help people, like myself, who can’t seem to break away from news and digital information. Even as a yogi with mindfulness training, I admit that lately I haven’t been following what I had learned.

Cantor discovered her own media addiction during the 2008 U.S. Presidential Campaign. She was an obsessed poll watcher eager to see if Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would win the Democratic nomination. With the arrival of Smartphones, she realized she was being sucked into digital overload.

Shortly after researching the issue, Cantor spoke to a group of professional women about her experiences and found she wasn’t alone. Nearly every woman thought she was talking about them, and later some said her advice changed their lives.

Cantor details her tips in her book, Conquer CyberOverload: Get More Done, Boost Your Creativity, and Reduce Stress (CyberOutlook Press 2009).

Her advice can help people stress less, become more efficient, and glean more creativity in their lives.

So how does digital media overload the brain?

Paying attention to digital stimuli is part of our human evolution, Cantor says. After all the humans who survived were the ones who responded quickly or intelligently to danger. 

Although we aren’t being chased down by prehistoric animals anymore, we are finding the same reactions as text messages, social media posts, images and news pursue us digitally. 

It’s like being the ball in an old-fashioned pinball machine, Cantor says, as it careens down the lanes with beeps, rings, flashes and whistles.

Choose your media carefully.

Cantor suggests people choose their media intake carefully and remember the brain’s tendency to hold onto traumatic memories. She cites research on people who viewed images of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. People who were exposed to media during the coverage were more upset than people who didn’t, and even had symptoms similar to post-traumatic syndrome disorder.

The constant barrage can trigger the body’s fight or flight response—the sympathetic nervous system—leaving the body in a state of arousal with no ability to relax, Cantor says. Research shows this leads to stress that can impact the body’s immune system, cause cardiovascular disease, depression, and other medical problems. 

But Cantor doesn’t suggest tuning out completely, just limit the bad news. She says you have to decide how much is overwhelming and negotiate it every day depending on your emotional state.

Multitasking is NOT the answer.

Be kind to your mind because digital overload and multitasking isn’t good for the brain. Cantor says research backs this up but you can test this out in your own life, just like she did. She found out when she made zucchini bread while watching a football game on TV it took nearly 15 minutes longer to make it—and she admits that she didn’t thoroughly enjoy either activity.

“Your brain can’t do two things at once,” Cantor says. “All it can do is switch back and forth between the two things and when you do that the quality is much lower and it takes you a lot longer to complete tasks.”

Cantor challenges people who think they are efficient multi-taskers, by asking them if they would fold their laundry with one hand tied behind their back?

Digital overload and its evil twin, multitasking, can create havoc on the mind. Cantor calls it a “dimming of the brain.” She says research shows that information overload interferes with creativity.

Intentionally limit your screen-time.

Set up your day to maximize what you want to get out of it. Set aside quiet time and turn digital devices off, limit your time watching TV, and turn it off when you aren’t watching it.

Don’t ditch digital altogether - just make smarter choices.

But don’t ditch digital tools altogether; they can help us connect. During the COVID-19 safer-at-home order, Cantor used Facebook Live to read stories to her granddaughter. She jokes she’s obtained the celebrity status of Elmo with her granddaughter because they both come from the same digital screen.

Also choose digital content that relaxes, educates and entertains—an Inner Fire Yoga online class, perhaps.

Cantor also suggests spending time with positive people, exercise, and choose non-digital activities that you enjoy. Meditation classes and practicing mindfulness, both of which have been shown to reduce stress, can help rewire the brain’s ability to cope. 

Be both the tortoise and the hare.

Even if you do just a little bit, you are going to start feeling better right away, Cantor says.

She uses a timeless fable to demonstrate the ultimate goal—be both the tortoise and the hare.

“The goal is to try to achieve balance alternating through work and play and between focus and relaxation,” Cantor says.

I think that is perfect advice for a yogi.

Find out more about Joanne Cantor at www.yourmindonmedia.com.