Creating Boundaries With Technology for a Healthy Work-Life Balance
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This post was guest written by Briana Hilton.
Out of 1,000 respondents, 77% reported that they had experienced burnout at their current jobs at least once, according to one work-life balance survey. With remote work and the prominent role that technology now plays in our everyday work lives, creating clear boundaries can make avoiding burnout and maintaining a healthy work-life balance extremely difficult — especially if you’re a part of the 48% of Americans that consider themselves to be workaholics. From how you can identify when your work-life balance needs a change to how you can effectively tone down the tech, here’s how you can make a positive change.
Identifying the problem
75% of U.S. employees use their personal cell phones for work, and while Zippia.com notes that this statistic is from before the pandemic, it’s noted that the percentage is likely much higher as workers move away from corporate offices and equipment and into their homes. With online work chats, email, and virtual meetings becoming more widely used, it can be easy to feel like you’re always working or on standby — which can lead to burnout. Healthline describes burnout as a state of mental and physical exhaustion, which can stem from ‘continual exposure’ to stressful situations like working long hours.
You may need to adjust your work-life balance if you’re experiencing difficulties in your relationships, you’ve become negative or irritable, or if you’re emotionally, physically, or mentally exhausted, according to Rebecca Phillips, a licensed professional counselor and owner of Mend Modern Therapy. While the perfect work-life balance doesn’t look the same for everyone, minimizing the use of work-related tech on your off time can make a major difference in setting clear boundaries between work and play.
Starting with minor adjustments
When looking to make clear separations between work and your personal life, keeping work apps off of your personal devices can be a fantastic way to start. One Wired article points out just how easy it can become to get wrapped up into work matters after hours — all by simply getting a notification. That said, not seeing the notification in the first place is noted to be the easiest way to break the cycle. This includes team chat apps (such as Slack and Microsoft Teams), as well as your company email. Making it a point to only have these on a work-issued or work-only computer, phone, or tablet can make setting boundaries simple and effective. Setting up separate accounts on your computer is another option, while turning off notifications on work-related apps offers an additional solution if you must keep them on a personal device.
Disconnecting on time is another small — yet powerful — tool in cultivating a healthy work-life balance where technology is concerned. According to one 2020 Forbes post, eight associates of Forbes Human Resources Council examined the benefits that come along with encouraging employees to disconnect after the workday — some of which included avoiding employee burnout, improving efficiency, higher productivity, and promoting work-life balance, to name just a few. Logging off might sound simple enough, though setting a strict start and end time (and perhaps using alarms) can all help in successfully disconnecting when working remotely on flexible hours.
Building boundaries via design
In addition to creating boundaries online, doing so in regard to your physical workplace and technology setup can further aid in working towards a healthier work-life balance. By creating a workspace that caters to efficiency, you can more easily achieve goals during the day and keep your work confined to work hours only. In addition to creating storage (which will allow you to store your phone or tablet when not in use), building separation between work and personal needs within your workspace design will allow you to focus on work when needed. Adding a separating design feature through an item that defines and delineates the space is just one way to achieve this, and the options are endless. While furniture like a bookshelf works to create visual separation, investing in a larger desk (or a separate one entirely) can present additional solutions — especially if you’re using the space for work and hobbies like gaming or crafting.
Successfully maintaining a healthy work-life balance can become a major challenge for many, whether you work from home or not. With technology playing a major role in our working lives today, setting and sticking to clear boundaries is key in cultivating a rewarding and effective work-life balance.