Signs you need to take a techtimeout whilst at university

By our VIP partners, Techtimeout

challenges of remote learning

It’s fair to say that university has recently been a rather harsh environment for students. Whilst being able to work online can be great it can also lead to severe harm in your mental health, due to the lack of face to face socialisation and an overwhelming amount of pressure for students to adapt to new methods of learning.

are you putting things off for another day?

Procrastination is a word that is thrown around 24/7 in the university world and it can be a major problem for many students. It is so easy today to find other things to do. Students love to use social media and other online platforms to help distract themselves from the more difficult and focused tasks.

Personally, my biggest distraction was TikTok. I very recently took the decision to delete the app completely from my phone when I realised how much time I spent on it. Not only that but I noticed how I managed to always end up on the app right before I was due to start any assignment or university related task.

worsened sleep patterns?

As many students will know, sleep deprivation is a given. Many will have a horrible sleep pattern that features irregular hours, too few hours or often too long. Studies show that devices are a key contributing factor to having a bad night’s sleep. According to research, repeated use of a bright screen over 5 days can delay the body clock by 1.5 hours.¹ This means you consistently want to go to bed later and sleep in longer.²

A further study shows that the increase of academic demands and a busy social life, makes it difficult for students to complete their assignments earlier in the day, requiring computers and devices being used later into the night.

Personally, I find it helps to manage my time in the day to help reduce that urgency to use devices more at night for work. Limiting, or ideally cutting out complete contact with any artificial light will be beneficial.

lack of motivation and focus?

It is very common for students to become restless and overall just very discontented with the university experience. I’ve hit a stage where things such as assignments and my social life just become a delusion and a lot of time is spent on unproductive things such as sitting in bed, mindlessly swiping through social media or just being very lazy. Much of this is caused by a lack of motivation and being distracted 24/7 by technology.

so, what’s the answer?

There is no ‘silver bullet’ for addressing all of the issues I’ve raised above and experienced myself but an overuse of technology does seem to be the underlying cause of all these problems.

A great method of reducing your time on screens is by setting yourself something to do that disregards technology. It helps to refresh your mind and in turn helps retrieve a sense of motivation which transfers back onto the important things such as socialising and being productive!

Switching off your phone or closing down your computer requires willpower and an alternative. At techtimeout we offer the techtimeout10 challenge which can prepare you for managing your technology usage and encourage you to switch off and begin engaging with new activities such as hiking, cycling, cooking or even starting a new hobby!

The overall challenge is completed by putting your phone out of sight or putting it in one of our special techtimeout sleeping pouches found here. You can spend however long you want each day from tech – it could be 10 minutes or it could be 30 – 60 minutes – it’s up to you. Some days you may need longer to disconnect and refresh. We also provide other useful products within our exclusive shop.