Inoculating against the Misinformation Virus

Why do some individuals trust fallacies in the first place? One example may be if a piece of farfetched news is aired, people who lack the time, interest or ability to critically evaluate this news turn to social media to quickly scan what others think. Individuals can also have faith in false information because of confirmation bias, where we naturally seek out ideas to confirm our prior beliefs. Due to the large amount of data we must process on a daily basis, it is easier to fit new knowledge into our already established world view than to create a new line of thought.

Creating Balanced Relationships with Social Media

How to craft online safeguards:
1. Prune your social media garden by deleting who and what provokes anxiety
2. Protect yourself by blocking
3. Remove toxic apps that focus on negativity. Counter these with daily positives, such as Nice News
4. Moderate exposure by taking periodic breaks to gain perspective and create balance in online activities
5. Turn off notifications that eat up time and create distractions that keep you from main goals
6. Remove blue-light screens to improve your sleep
7. Look at computer tracking that informs about the actual length of your screen time

Social Media News and Mental Health

Excess emersion in social media is unwise. We become overwhelmed when spending hours online seeking answers. The mind is not constructed to process an oversaturation of discouraging material and millions of digital comparisons. When people become flooded with too much data, one response is to ‘give up,’ which can lead to learned helplessness. This manifestation of learned helplessness is related to a person’s belief in their ability to reach a goal. In this case, finding the correct piece of information that satisfies a sense of safety in what we perceive to be an unsafe world. An impression of powerlessness that comes with a perceived lack of control over a particular outcome can lead to depression. It is important to proactively take control over our wellbeing and lessen the effect of learned helplessness.

On Creative Problem Solving

“The mind does most of its best thinking when we aren't there.
The answers are there in the morning.”
– Alain de Botton

What is Default Mode Network (DMN)? DMN is an empirically supported phenomena when one develops their best ideas during times in which they are otherwise mentally unoccupied. Examples may be when in the shower, walking your dog or raking fall leaves. Some may term this daydreaming, an activity we engage in almost 50% of time.

World Mental Health Day - 10/10/2022

The World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) announced the theme for World Mental Health Day 2022, which is 'Make mental health for all a global priority”.

Fitting Work into your Life

We know work can be taxing in two ways:
Time Pressure – The perception one has of uncompleted tasks and that
time is running out to accomplish those responsibilities.
Emotional Labor – The management of one's emotions in order to present oneself and interact with other people in a certain way while doing a job. An example of emotional labor may be working daily with customers and coworkers, while making a good effort to appear cheerful and friendly, can be especially draining when one is under time pressure on tasks.