Messenger, email, social media – we have many communication options. They all have one thing in common: Sometimes they can put us under pressure and cause stress. Because it feels like we always have to react directly.
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Many means of communication encourage us to respond quickly. And the feeling of having to answer all the time can be stressful because we know the other person is waiting for an answer.
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“Students tell me, people in their early twenties, that they take their cell phones with them when they take a shower and interrupt it when they get a message.”
Maren Urner, professor for media psychology at the University for Media, Communication and Economics in Cologne
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At the same time, we’re hardly used to waiting, so we do other things besides writing via messenger, says Maren Urner, professor of media psychology at the University of Media, Communication and Economics in Cologne.
Correct communication would be made more difficult: “My attention is not one hundred percent on the conversation. And I do not get into the mode of active listening and sharing.”
The overload occurs, for example, when we divide our attention onto too many channels.
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“Many people experience the phenomenon of phantom vibration or phantom beeping because they think they are receiving a message or a phone call.”
Maren Urner, professor for media psychology at the University for Media, Communication and Economics in Cologne
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Instead of “digital detox” – that is, switching off all digital devices and means of communication – we could also switch over, says Maren Urner. In practice, this means: For example, deliberately going outside without digital devices. And if we’re in a conversation, don’t use the smartphone at the same time. “We need phases in which there is no continuous input stream and permanent availability,” advises Maren Urner.
By the way, she prefers direct contacts, i.e. personal meetings or phone calls. Because: the more direct the exchange, the less we have to wait for an answer or are distracted.
You can hear more about digital communication and excessive demands in the conversation between Deutschlandfunk-Nova presenter Nik Potthoff and Maren Urner.
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