Author Courtney Ackerman On 5 Ways To Create a Healthy Relationship With Screens and Technology

Set intentions for your social media usage. Before navigating to a social media app, identify your reason for using it, set a goal, and stop once you’ve achieved it.

As a part of my series about 5 Ways To Create a Healthy Relationship With Screens and Technology, I had the pleasure of interviewing Courtney E. Ackerman.

Courtney E. Ackerman is the author of My Pocket Meditations for Self-Compassion, My Pocket Positivity, 5-Minute Bliss, and My Pocket Gratitude. Her early travels sparked her interest in learning about human nature at a young age. This interest led her to Claremont Graduate University, where she earned her master’s degree in positive psychology and program evaluation. She works as a researcher and survey consultant in California. She enjoys traveling, spending time with her dogs, sampling beer at nearby breweries, and playing board games or video games to destress.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your backstory?

I’m a researcher by training and I love working where research and application intersect. I work in mental health research and evaluation for the state of California, but I love my independent work that focuses on helping people improve their lives and themselves through positive psychology.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

It’s tough to narrow it down! I think the most surprising thing happened after I’d been writing articles in positive psychology for a couple of years. I was working on a new article, and I Googled something related to positive psychology, and what did I see as the first search result? One of my articles! That was kind of surreal, but very cool to see that my work was getting out there.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now?

I’m always working on something! I have a few projects up my sleeve, but nothing I’m ready to share at this time.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Between work and personal life, the average adult spends nearly 11 hours looking at a screen per day. How does our increasing screen time affect our mental, physical, and emotional health?

That’s a lot of screen time! The research is not entirely conclusive about the effects on our health, but we do know some things. We know it’s straining our eyes and taking a physical toll on our bodies. We also know that it’s contributing to greater distractedness and trouble focusing. There’s also evidence to suggest that all this screen time is changing how we see ourselves and others — and probably not in positive ways. Social media can be used to connect us with others, but it’s often used to do the exact opposite, especially when we use it to mindlessly scroll instead of talking to our loved ones, peruse altered images that shift our perception of reality, and read a constant stream of negative or alarmist headlines and captions.

Can you share your top five ways people can improve mental wellness and create a healthy relationship with technology?

The most important thing people can do to improve their relationship with social media (and all screens) is to build their self-awareness. Before we can decide how to tackle a problem, we need to understand it, and that’s what self-awareness can give you. All the other techniques build off of that first vital step.

With that in mind, here’s a helpful list:

1. Build your awareness of your relationship with social media. Be aware of how you use it, when you use it, and how you feel before, during, and after.
2. Set some boundaries around your usage. Give yourself a limited amount of time you can spend on each app or on social media in general, and stick to it.
3. Carefully curate your social media feed. You don’t need to see it all! Make sure the accounts or topics you’re following are in alignment with your values and your goals.
4. Carve out some technology-free time. Set aside some time to be present, both with yourself and with your loved ones.
5. Set intentions for your social media usage. Before navigating to a social media app, identify your reason for using it, set a goal, and stop once you’ve achieved it.

Between social media distractions, messaging apps, and the fact that Americans receive 45.9 push notifications each day, Americans check their phones 80 times per day. How can people, especially younger generations, create a healthier relationship with social media?

First things first — change your push notification settings! My life has become a lot simpler since I did this. We really don’t need to be notified of probably 95% of the things our phone automatically alerts us to. Decide what is vital to know about ASAP, keep those notifications, and turn off the rest.

And, as noted above, develop your awareness around how you use social media. That’s the necessary first step before you decide how you’d like to proceed building a healthier relationship with it. Once you have a better understanding of when you use, how you use it, and why you use it, you can start to use some of the many strategies available for cutting back and taking control of your social media usage.

80% of smartphone users check their phones before they brush their teeth in the morning. What effect does starting the day this way have on people? Is there a better morning routine you suggest?

It’s so easy to do! Many of us sleep with our phone on the nightstand (or in bed with us), and it’s the last thing we check at night and the first thing we check in the morning. If you have a good relationship with your phone, it may not have much of an impact on you — but so many of us have fraught relationships with our phones! Aside from working on improving that relationship, it’s not a bad idea to get your day started before checking in to the digital world. Try keeping your phone in another room and using an alarm clock instead of your phone’s alarm. Set a goal to spend at least 10 or 15 minutes getting ready before checking your messages and notifications.

Can you please give us your favorite life lesson quote?

I take a lot of wisdom from the Stoic philosophers. I think a good portion of what Marcus Aurelius wrote is just as applicable today as it was 2,200 years ago. I like this quote from Marcus Aurelius in particular: “You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

It’s short and simple, but it’s true. We cannot control what happens to us. All we can control is how we respond to it — and I believe we have a lot more control over our mind than we tend to think.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would love to start a movement that helps people understand and embrace the idea that they have control over their own lives. It is my dream to see more people empowered to figure out who they are and what they want, and then to go out and get it. We only have one life to live, but fortunately we have endless options that can lead us in any direction we want to go. Let’s take advantage of that!

What is the best way our readers can further follow your work online?

Readers can add me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-e-ackerman-0b03a270/] and head to my author page to check out my books [https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Courtney-E-Ackerman/145060763]. My most recent book, The Social Media Detox Tracker, comes out on August 2nd, 2022! [https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Social-Media-Detox-Tracker/Courtney-E-Ackerman/9781507219638]

If you want infrequent and irregular updates (because I’m working on maintaining a healthy and limited relationship with social media too!) you can follow me on Instagram at @courtneyeackerman.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

Thank you for the opportunity! This was a pleasure.