“Can’t be done”
“No way”
“That’s terrifying”
“Why would I do that?”
“No, I won’t”
“Hunh???”

These are just a few of the reactions I received when I recently broached the topic with some youth about unplugging from all things digital for a 24-hour period.

It’s not a new idea.  A couple of years ago 1,000 students from 10 countries took on the assignment of doing without the Internet or phones for 24 hours.  The results of that study were interesting. You can check it out here – http://theworldunplugged.wordpress.com.

What prompted me to revisit the idea of a digital-free day was learning about National Day of Unplugging[1] (NDU).  It’s a day to completely unplug from phones and computers.  No texts, no emails, no mindless surfing of the web.

The NDU is the brainchild of Reboot[2], a non-profit in the USA.  Reboot created the Sabbath Manifesto[3] – “a creative project designed to slow down lives in an increasingly hectic world”.  Reboot invites everyone, regardless of religious affiliation, to “carve a weekly timeout into our lives”.

Considering how “overconnected” we can all be it seems wise to take time away from the devices.  For example – counting up the devices in own household was eye-opening.  In a household of four we have five cellphones, one iPod, six laptops, one desktop and two wireless networks.  Talk about overconnected.

Unplugging for just a day may not seem like much but it is a start.  If you check out the NDU website you will see that people from all over the world have taken the unplugging pledge.   Youth and older adults are signed up and the reasons they say they want to unplug range from sweet to funny to poignant.

How about it?  Take the National Day of Unplugging Pledge for 24 hours starting at sunset March 7 and running through to sunset on March 8.  I’m going to and I’m going to recommend it to my clients too.
Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online Inc.  http://www.therapyonline.ca

The words “Internet addiction” (IA) seem to be tossed around quite freely these days. In the build-up to the release of the latest DSM (DSM-V) from the American Psychological Association I heard and read a lot of discussion about “Internet Addiction”.   There are some who wonder if this is a fad diagnosis that will fade away and think we ought to be careful about pathologizing this behaviour while others are sounding the alarm about how pervasive and damaging it is. In the end the APA chose not to include what they term ‘Internet Compulsive Disorder’ in the DSM-V.  They have however, listed it in Section III as “a condition warranting more clinical research and experience….”[1]

So what to call it?  In reviewing some of the research around the topic of Internet addiction I have come across a number of terms that are used instead of addiction:

Overuse
Preoccupation
Excessive absorption
Overly immersed[2]
Problematic Use
Compulsive Use

The authors of an article on the prevalence of IA amongst youth chose not to use the word “addiction” instead they talk about “…a potentially pathological behavioural pattern. It is denoted by the presence of the following symptoms: (i) a loss of control over the behaviour, (ii) conflict (internal and interpersonal), (iii) preoccupation with the Internet, (iv) using the Internet to modify mood, and (v) withdrawal symptoms.”[3]

This description comes from the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (Meerkerk et al., 2009[4]).

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The Oxford Dictionary announced that “selfie” was their International Word of the year for 2013.  In case you don’t know – a selfie is “a photograph one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website”.[1]

Since that announcement I have been paying a whole lot more attention to the ever-increasing proliferation of these self-portraits.  There are days when my Facebook feed is full of them.  Funny, silly, gorgeous, questionable or just plain odd.  They show a moment in time — a moment that person has chosen to capture and share.  Which prompts the question “why”?

There has been a lot of discussion amongst my friends and colleagues about whether this rise in selfie portraiture indicates a rise in narcissism in our culture.  Most of them think it does.   Reading I have done as well leans toward the conclusion that selfies are a clear indicator our society is more self-absorbed than previously.  On the other hand students tell me selfies are more about self-esteem and confidence than narcissism.

It seemed to me it was worth further exploration.

Pamela Rutledge, in a Psychology Today article, says “Put aside your anxieties over rampant narcissism and the moral decline of the digital generation and exhale.” [2] She goes on to talk how selfies can be perceived to be “self-indulgent” or “attention-seeking” and why we, as a society might view them that way.  She also talks about how they can be used positively.  She suggests selfies “can enable a brief adventure into a different aspect of self or a relaxation of normal constraints.  Needless to say, there are some unfortunate uses of selfies.  But that doesn’t mean the act of taking a selfie is a bad thing.”  In another article by Rutledge she lists ideas for taking healthy selfies. [3]

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I don’t know if it’s the weather or the shorter days or the upcoming holiday season but I have been noticing that the pace of life has picked up.  Everyone I talk to is busy, stretched and feeling “stressed”.

To counteract this trend I have been sharing a variety of relaxation apps with my clients.  These three have recently come to my attention.

Fluid is a free app that is quite simple really – an image of rocks with water flowing over them and playing in the background is what the app designers call “Zen music”.   .   If you pay for Fluid2 you get to choose your own music.  Besides the images of rocks you can choose an image of your own if you wish.  There’s not just the visual and auditory to experience there is a tactile element to this as well.  As you move your fingers over the screen it’s as if you are moving your fingers through water creating ripples.  It’s mesmerizing and calming.

Relaxing Sounds of Nature Lite is another free app.   Ahh, crickets chirping, rainfall, waves and more.  You can control the volume and mix sounds together.  Create your own relaxation soundscapes.  Set a nature soundscape as your wakeup timer.  There is an option to view a slideshow of nature photos as well.

This next one you have to pay for.  iZenGarden is a “portable Zen garden” complete with virtual sandbox and rake. You can choose elements to place in the garden while listening (or not) to the soothing soundtracks.   You can move elements around and rake the sand into patterns creating a meditative space online. One reviewer said the audio alone made the price of the app worthwhile.

Just reviewing these sites I feel more peaceful and tranquil.  Maybe you’d like to give it a shot too.

Dawn Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate counsellor with Worldwide Therapy Online Inc.  http://www.therapyonline.ca

Imagine you’re a high school student who suffers from test anxiety.  It’s not that you don’t study – it’s just that your mind goes blank anytime you are in a test situation and you fail.  And the more that happens the more anxious you feel.  Each test is starting to feel like a mountain you don’t want to climb.  There’s a lot riding for you on the test you have today.   It feels as if your heart is going to come out of your chest it’s beating so fast and you can feel yourself starting to panic.

Now imagine you pull out your phone and open the MindShift app.  There you find tips on calm breathing, reminders about helpful thoughts and you can review strategies to manage your anxiety before, during and after a test.

Ahhh, that’s better.  Heartbeat and breathing slows.  Thoughts stop racing.  You are feeling more in charge and able to face the task at hand.

That’s just one small example of how MindShift, a new app designed to help teens and young adults manage anxiety and reduce stress, can work.

This evidence-based app was released in June of this year and was co-developed by Anxiety BC and BC Mental Health & Addiction Services.  Teens and young adults were included in the design process and their feedback was invaluable.

The app is easy to navigate and offers concrete practical support that can be personalized by the user.   MindShift is discreet in appearance and name so it won’t be immediately obvious to anyone that you are using the app for anxiety management and you can password protect it if you wish.

MindShift has several sections:

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According to the 2011 KidsHelpPhone survey on Cyberbullying,[1] it “remains a significant problem for many young people in Canada….”.  Cyberbullying may consist of threats, insults, and, as we have seen in a tragic case here in Canada, unwanted photos/videos posted on social networking sites. 

There’s a whole other side to this I wasn’t aware of until I started doing research on this in the past few weeks.  Self-cyberbullying or, as researcher Danah Boyd calls it, “digital self-harm”.   In her 2010 article, she points out, “…there are teens out there who are self-harassing by “anonymously” writing mean questions to themselves and then publicly answering them.”[2]

More recently there have been a couple of high profile cases in the USA and the UK where the threats, nasty comments and harassment have been traced to the victim’s own account or IP address.

Elizabeth Englander, Director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center, conducted some research with first year university students on this topic.  She found, “9% of the subjects told us that they had falsely posted a cruel remark “against” themselves, or cyberbullied themselves, during high school….about half of these “digital self-harmers” had done this only once or very infrequently; the other half  reported that they had cyberbullied themselves more regularly or had one, ongoing episode which lasted at least several months”[3]

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Ask.fm is a controversial Q & A website that has been translated into 24 languages and has close to 65 million users worldwide.  Almost half of those users are under 18.  This Latvia-based social networking site is one where users can ask other users questions.   You can pose or answer questions or post comments and it is all anonymous. 

Sounds okay.  So what’s the controversy about Ask.fm?  

Someone referred to it as a breeding ground for hate speak and bullying.  News reports about this site in the past year have highlighted cases of cyberbullying and teen suicide. Ask.fm has been harshly criticized for not moderating content and its lack of privacy and identity controls.  Two recent teen suicides in the UK have brought even more attention to the website and the negative ways it has been used.

As one BBC reporter said, “it’s the ability to say what you want without identifying yourself that is both the appeal and the danger of sites like this.”[1]

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I have been spending a lot of time lately with tweens and teens learning about how they are using all sorts of social media.  I’ve heard stories of connection and of cyberbullying.  Stories about rumours and damage to reputations.   I have also witnessed how quickly something on social media can escalate into a real-life crisis.  

One such crisis in recent weeks originated via Snapchat.  Once the crisis was dealt with I decided to research this ‘new to me’ app.   I was surprised at how popular it is.   As of September 21^st Snapchat users were sending 350 million photos daily.

What is it? A mobile app for “real-time picture chatting”.  Theoretically, Snapchat allows users to send a photo that then disappears after 1 -10 seconds.  The creators of this app refer to it as “a new way to share moments with friends. Snap an ugly selfie (a self-portrait) or a video, add a caption, and send it to a friend (or maybe a few). They’ll receive it, laugh, and then the snap disappears…”

Sounds like a reasonable, fun idea. Yet it raises some red flags for me.

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Earlier this week Jian Ghomeshi of CBC said,  “September must we dread you?”  An excellent question!  September can often be like a wild fairground ride.  You know the one where you are strapped into a chair that slowly, slowly climbs up….and then WHAM drops you back down to the ground? Yeah – that’s how September often feels!  

My summer was idyllic in many ways and I wanted to be more intentional and planful about September this year. As we transition into the last quarter of the year, which many people consider to be the “real” new year, it seemed like a good time to take a moment and reflect on my intentions for the rest of the year.  To pause and think about what this year has been like thus far and to get clear on how I want to finish 2013.

I won’t take credit for this idea – it came to me via a blogger whose work I follow.  You can find the link here – http://www.katmcnally.com/p/august-moon-13.html

I liked the questions that were posed and found myself thinking about ways to use them with clients.  

Here’s a sampling of the questions…

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