It’s November 7th and that means it is International Stress Awareness Day.
Stress Awareness Day is your opportunity to start looking after yourself and your life, and break down the individual stressors in your life. Failure to deal with stress in your life effectively can lead to serious health problems, including increased blood pressure, susceptibility to heart disease, and a decline in your immune system.
Once you start experiencing these symptoms they can landslide into each other, resulting in growing sickness, and by extension, more stress. It’s truly a self-feeding problem, and a cycle that is necessary to control to enjoy our lives.
As part of International Stress Awareness Day, the International Stress Management Association is providing a live stress chatbot helpline.
So if something is worrying you, or you need to talk in confidence go to www.isma.org.uk and talk to one of our stress consultants today between 9 am to 10 pm.
This year the focus of Stress Awareness day is technology. There is no doubt that technology impacts all our lives, and it is thus appropriate that we from ISMA are involved in a debate about the positive and the adverse effects it can have, and how on the other hand technology can also contribute to our advantage.
Danielle and I (Tom) both Belgian members of ISMA wanted to contribute to this debate and have created the Online Stress Summit. This year we have interviewed experts from the US, Canada, Netherlands, South Africa, England and Belgium.
So join us today and start one of the most important conversations of our time and share your thoughts and reflections in your online and off-line communities.
The best way to celebrate Stress Awareness Day is to take the opportunity to remove the stress from your life for the day. Take the time to examine your life and find out where all the stressors lie, and start looking into taking steps to remove them or find ways to mitigate them. Removing stress from your life can start off as a stressful experience, so it can help to get the assistance from organizations like ISMA to look into strategies and support in how to manage those things in your life that cause stress.
Whatever you choose to do, take the time to take a day off and let yourself have a day of freedom. If it’s sickness, do something to help you focus on something other than that sickness. Stress can be a killer, don’t let it take one more day from your life, act now and start living a stress free life!
In 3 weeks time on November 7, ‘International Stress Awareness Day‘ we’ll dedicate with the Online Stress Summit a whole day on the topic “Does Hi-Tech cause Hi-Stress?“
Danielle and I have interviewed international experts and asked them their view on the positive and the adverse effects technology can have on our health and well-being including technostress, game and technology addiction.
Technology addiction is a broad term that refers to the uncontrollable urge to use technological devices such as computers, smartphones, and gaming systems. Technology addiction appears to be more prevalent among teenagers, but is found amongst the broader population as well. According to the International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine, as many as one in eight Americans suffers from some type of technology addiction.
Technology addiction is a recently identified addiction that has not yet been medically classified but has been linked to the widespread and rapid evolvement and use of technological devices. What actually causes technology addiction is not all that well understood. Researchers claim it may be a combination of inherent genetic traits and elements in the environment. These three factors have been identified as possible underlying causes of technology addiction:
On the Online Stress Summit we talk about techno and game addiction with digital stress expert Matthias Dewilde (BE) who was himself addicted to games and now goes around schools and advises parents on how deal with it.
Here is his interview preview
Matthias Dewilde (BE) is a digital stress expert, author & consultant. After experiencing a long term screen & gaming addiction himself, he now guides children, parents & companies alike in creating a more balanced on- & offline lifestyle at home or at work.
His clients, including Marriott, Teamleader & Cronos, have relied on him to show the impact technology is having on our wellbeing & our kids – and how to thrive & find peace in a world filled with devices.
As a speaker he is connected to organizations such as Child Focus and received national acclaim & press coverage for his engagements and contributions to treating screen & gaming addiction.
Watch also the interview with Technostress expert Sean D. Waters (SA) who also addresses the topic of social media addition
Sean D. Waters (SA) is the founder of the Stress Less Clinic® and the authority on Technostressology™the study of technostress as a modern disease on which he has done extensive research.
He works as a Stress Specialist Practitioner in the Stress Less Clinic® in Johannesburg where he provides simple effective and practical ways of helping both individuals and companies on awareness, understanding, managing, coping, and evaluating their lives.
Make sure you register to the FREE Online Stress Summit to watch Mattias’ and Sean’s full interview and many others on and from November 7.
We’re living in a fast-changing world and there are many voices of how fast it will change. Some experts like Futurist Gerd Leonhard predict that over the next 20 years we’ll see more changes than in the last 300 years.
How to navigate these challenges ahead and thrive.
Just look at all the changes we’ve gone through since the first iPhone came out in 2007. Unlike previous major world-changing events in our evolution like the industrial revolutions where we competed from a physical perspective with machines today’s revolution is not only physical but also challenges our intelligence with a singularity – a time where artificial intelligence will qualitatively, far surpass all human intelligence – predicted by 2045.
While the first industrial (r)evolutions were answered with the power of creativity and intelligence, this strategy probably won’t work any more because as mentioned before technology will soon surpass us in this. Already we’re seeing technology being used in ways that, a few years ago we or at least I thought impossible like counselling. But already existing today and introduced with success you have the mental health chatbots Tess and Woebot. Another amazing feat to give us insight into what is to come has been shown to us by Google who introduced a virtual assistant that can make an actual telephone call on your behalf.
The question is how will we overcome the challenges for example in employment? A report by the McKinsey Global Institute predicts that by 2030, as many as 800 million jobs could be lost worldwide to automation. New jobs will be created, yes off-course but these will unlikely be in the field of manual labour or mobility because what can be automated probably will be automated. Also, it might not be in the areas where mental capacity is needed. Just think it through with me, imagine… and this is not imagine if…’ but ‘imagine when…’ in a few years time these technologies just mentioned and many others have exponentially grown in power.
Whole industries will become automated and artificial super-intelligence will start coming up with solutions faster then any human or group of humans will ever be capable of performing. That is the reality of our future as we know it.
In the end, the quest will not be about jobs. But about the meaning and purpose, we will give our lives and how technology is developed and used to become better at being human. Most authors on books about digital transformation or futurism like Gerd Leonhard, Yuval Noah Harari, Christian Kromme, Baroness Susan Greenfield, James Barrat and Max Tegmark but also Tim Cook from Apple talk about how technology should serve humanity. In other words, we’re entering the human-centred era, where spirit comes to the foreground.
It has eluded us it seemed an impossible task but while technology is proving that nothing is impossible given time we need to step up and take our evolution into our own hands.
We are capable of so much more without technological implants or biohacking. What we need for that is time, and that is exactly what technology can give us. I love the analogy by Futurist Christian Kromme who in his book ‘Humanification’ describes how just like in the body there is an autonomous nervous centre that makes sure our heartbeats, lungs breathe air and do a zillion other things without us having to think about it. That automated system that is what technology can offer us and developers of technology should strive for so we can focus on what is essential, evolving on purpose and bringing meaning into our life to become who we were born to be. To work from the heart and step into our unique role to perform our unique part in the bigger scheme of Life and the Universe that connects us all. A part nurtured from our soul, that fills us with meaning and purpose.
If you have ever lived and worked from the heart even if it is only for a minute you know the feeling that that gives. It fills you with joy and passion, you feel light, connected and nurtured even though you might not have eaten for a long time.
Today we’re living in a time where we have to make a conscious choice to design our life on and with purpose and futurize ourselves for the greater good. Yes, many elements of life will be automated, the IoT will make life easier, but we may not forget that as human beings we need a stimulus to grow. We need to use our brains because just like muscles they abide by the law ‘use it or lose it’. With no stimulus, without meaning or purpose, the brain will shrink and that will have detrimental consequences for your health, well-being and happiness.
So step into the heart and become curious about how you can evolve on purpose and navigate the challenges ahead and thrive with resilience.
In my book “Futurize Yourself – Design your life on purpose” you’ll find key’s to get you started on your journey of the heart in a tried and tested manner that speaks to everyone who has read the book.
To be continued…
Tom
As host of the Online Stress Summit I like to contribute in the coming weeks some of my thoughts, insights and experiences on this most pertinent question: Does Hi-tech cause Hi-Stress?
I will do this by posting my thoughts in a series of posts under the title “Digital transformation without Stress” where I’ll cover a wide range of ideas from my professional experience as an osteopath and body-centred stress coach but also from my research on the topic and insights from books I’ve read.
I also hope that these journaled articles are an inspiration to you to join the FREEOnline Stress Summit and become a better informed human being for it. Informed and therefore wiser to thrive in a fast-changing world.
“Does Hi-Tech cause Hi-Stress?” That is the theme of this years Online Stress Summit and one Danielle and I asked all experts.
We also asked:
What inspired them to be interested in this topic?
How they see the future evolve, will it be more or less stressful?
Their number 1-tip to to prevent technology from being stressful?
Register for FREE to the Online Stress Summit to find out their answers. in the meanwhile here are the preview with neuroscientist and author Baroness Susan Greenfield and Stress Specialist and founder of the Stress Less Clinic Sean D. Waters.
Watch the preview of the interview Danielle Sax had with Dr. Linda Shaw. To watch the full interview and that of the other experts REGISTER today for the Free Online Stress Summit on https://goo.gl/vDFbQZ
About Dr. Shaw
Dr. Lynda Shaw is an experienced entrepreneur having owned 3 businesses including a health club with 2000 members and 20 staff. She holds a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience, specialising in unconscious processing of emotion and communication.
She is a registered chartered psychologist, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a Fellow of the Professional Speakers Association, a Forbes contributor as well as an author of adult and children’s books. Her latest is a business book called Your Brain Is Boss, a guide to becoming wealthier, healthier and happier.
International Stress Awareness Day 2018
This year the International Stress Management Association UK (http://isma.org.uk) has chosen on the theme “Does Hi-Tech Cause Hi-Stress?” for the International Stress Awareness Day (INSAD) on November 7th.
There is no doubt that technology impacts all our lives, and it is thus appropriate that ISMA is involved in a debate about the positive and the adverse effects it can have, and how on the other hand technology can also contribute to our advantage.
Hosts of the stress summit, Tom Meyers and Danielle Sax want to contribute to the debate with meaningful conversations with international experts on this topic that concerns us all.
We are living at a critical time in human history. A time where new emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and machine learning are reshaping our world with a speed, scope and complexity unlike anything humankind has experienced before.
How will we cope and stay healthy, knowing, that in this fast-changing world we will face challenges we can’t even imagine today and bring along more stress while life today is already stressful and difficult to manage.
Subscribe today for FREE on https://goo.gl/vDFbQZ to make sure you can watch all the amazing informative interviews on and from November 7th 2018.
Thank you and wherever you are and whatever you do, be good to you.
As part of International Stress Awareness Day, the International Stress Management Association is providing a live stress chatbot helpline.
Program of the day
THE ONLINE STRESS SUMMIT BLOG 