'Work from home' has increased our time spent on computers, mobile phones, tablets, and other digital devices. Meetings via video conferencing mediums are especially adding to this. Increased screen time impacts our health in several negative ways. In particular eye health, as we tend to stare at the screen to concentrate and hence blink less. This affects eye lubrication and causes dry irritated eyes, blurred vision, and poor eyesight. Dry eyes lead to prolonged gazing, which in turn reduces reading speed, which increases exposure time and creates a chronic cycle.
Screen time also adds to muscle fatigue, shoulder aches and pains, and deteriorates body posture as we tend to stay still to fit in the camera frame. Excessive screen time leads to reduced physical activity levels which increases the risk of diseases such as obesity, diabetes, sleep problems, mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, social isolation, loneliness, screen dependency disorders, and addiction.
A sedentary lifestyle, coupled with poor nutrition choices, leads to a spiralling down of our overall health. Poor physical and mental health reduces work productivity, which in turn increases stress levels. High-stress levels make us irritable and rude and drive a decline in our cognitive health.
Here are some tips on how to reduce screen time while working from home:
1. Know your screen usage.
First things first, track your screen time to know about your screen usage and accordingly monitor and control it. This can be done by using inbuilt screen time functions in smartphones and dedicated apps that block and disable the use of sites, such as social media websites, once the predetermined time limit is up.
2. Use video conferencing tools sparingly.
Use video conferencing tools such as Zoom, Skype, and Google meets only when necessary. Continue to use phone calls, emails, text messages, and chats for communication. Schedule and limit online meeting times in a day to organise your time between work-related communication and work-related tasks.
3. Reduce unnecessary screen time.
Replace digital sources with physical sources wherever possible. Decrease your unnecessary screen time by using pen and paper to make notes and lists, a whiteboard for brainstorming ideas, and read paperback books instead of eBooks for research.
4. Keep free time tech-free.
Keep personal time tech-free. Don’t take your meals while looking at the screen. A tech break at lunch not only refreshes but helps to prioritise and create perspective. Take up physical activities, such as gardening, walking, playing indoor and outdoor games, and hobbies like arts and crafts, baking and cooking, instead of spending your free time scrolling on social media, surfing the internet, online gaming, or watching videos.
5. Switch off unnecessary notifications.
Switch off social media and other unnecessary notifications while working. This will reduce constant distraction at work, increase focus and concentration levels, and therefore increase productivity.
6. Reduce eye strain.
Take care of your eye health by taking frequent breaks. The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends the 20-20-20 rule. This rule states that, every 20 minutes, shift your eyes to look at an object at least 20 feet away, for at least 20 seconds. Looking into the distance allows the eyes to relax. If necessary, set a timer as a reminder. Use eye lubricating drops or artificial tears. Adjust screen brightness to match the level of your room's light. Increase screen contrast. Reduce screen glare by using a matt filter. Sit at an arm’s length from the screen and position the screen so that your eyes gaze slightly downward. Humidity must also be optimal, so adjust your AC or fan accordingly.
Even though, currently, we cannot completely escape working from home, we can learn to manage screen time better and foster our digital and physical wellbeing.
Meetings are a mainstay of modern workplace communication, and for good reason. Done right, meetings aid collaboration, creativity, innovation, and inclusivity among teams. A study1 by ResearchGate reveals that over 50% of respondents considered their meetings productive and only 15% complained about them being a waste of time.
Yet, many of us hear superiors say, “If you’re invited to a meeting, we expect you to speak up. Don’t wait for someone to ask you.”
So, when you can’t find your voice in a meeting or if you’re getting interrupted too often when you try to speak, here are a few ways to make yourself heard in meetings.
7 Ways to Make Your Voice Heard in Meetings.
1.Do your research beforehand.
Walking into a meeting with no idea about its purpose or agenda is like going to war without guns. It’s imperative that you study the agenda before the meeting and arm yourself with ideas, questions and suggestions. If there are topics on the agenda that you can contribute to, convey the same to the host in advance and request that they set aside a few minutes in the meeting for you to speak. And if public speaking gets the best of you, practice your speech before the meeting with a friend or a trusted colleague, and invite questions and suggestions. Remember, practice makes perfect.
2.Arrive early to a meeting.
Reach the meeting room 10-15 minutes ahead of time and start conversations with those who are already present. It’s astonishing how even experienced people shy away from contributing in meetings because they fear what others will think of them. Being assertive in your communication with attendees gets easier if you’ve already spoken to them and built a rapport before the meeting. And if small talk is not your thing, just pull out the agenda and ask for someone’s opinion.
3.Consider questions as contributions.
Questions spark curiosity, curiosity creates ideas, and ideas lead to innovation. So never hesitate to stand up in a meeting and ask your questions. But don’t ever use questions to draw attention towards you. If your question doesn’t have merit, you’re only wasting your and your entire team’s time—a crime too grave to commit when everyone is already pressed for time. Don’t have questions but want to contribute? Make your voice heard by answering questions or summarizing the meeting based on your understanding.
4.Make sure your ideas get the attention they deserve.
When you’ve finally won attention in the meeting, hold the floor until you’ve made your point. Sometimes, even though you’ve made an important contribution, another attendee might think that they’ve come up with an idea of a lifetime and your idea will get lost under their enthusiasm. To avoid this, right after you make your point, engage others in a conversation by asking them “Do you think we can work with this idea?”, or “How can we make this work for your team as well?” to make sure your idea gets the attention it deserves.
And if someone interrupts, politely tell them that you’d like to hear their opinion but have just two more points to make. After you’ve completed your dialogue, remember to ask the person what they were saying.
5.Respond in agreement or disagreement.
If you agree to a point, ensure you voice your agreement with facts or reasons for the same. And if you disagree, speak up and explain why. Never apologize for disagreeing with someone, instead be assertive in your communication without being disrespectful.
Avoid starting with phrases like “I’m sorry but I think...” or “I don’t want to interrupt, but…” and start with these:
● In my opinion, we have a better solution if we….
● I understand Sheetal’s point, but that could lead to…
● I see it differently because…
6.Ask yourself why you want to contribute.
You either have something important to say that will change the course of the meeting, or you’re worried that you’ll be at the receiving end of the “If you’re invited to a meeting, we expect you to speak up.” comment.
If your contribution is driven by the latter, begin by asking yourself why you care about your role, your organization and the project at hand. Answering these questions will help you develop a sense of connection to your work, so you can find new ways to contribute instead of just making your presence felt.
7.Leave your emotions at the door.
People complain that they get “shut off” or “spoken over” in meetings. The only way to get past this is to leave your emotions at the door before a meeting. If you’re being spoken over, or when your idea isn’t being accepted like you wish it to be, staying in a neutral emotional state will help you cope with the feedback. If you have an important point to make that was interrupted, stand up and assert it; if it wasn’t, let it pass. Remember, the point of the meeting is to find solutions to a problem, and not to hear you out.
Making yourself heard in meetings can be tricky, especially when you’re stuck in a workplace that doesn’t notice your contributions. Give these suggestions a go, practice ways to be more assertive in your communication, and you’ll soon find it easy to be heard in meetings!