Excessive Use of Social Media Impacting Mental Health

Living in the digital age, we have increasingly become dependent on digital devices for communication, entertainment, banking, and even for our social lives. While the importance of digital devices in our lives is universally accepted, what has noticeably been emerging for some years are the perilous effects of their excessive use on our mental health. The problem has been further aggravated by the pandemic, with people living in isolation having to increase their screen time. Expectedly, in a recent survey, seventy five percent American families found excessive use of mobiles and planned to go for digital detoxing after the end of the pandemic. Even The American Psychological Association (APA) has found that constant checkers of the mobile experience more stress. One study by Journal of Behavioural Addictions reveals that if a phone is checked during solving a problem it can take nineteen percent longer.

Excessive use of digital devices and our anxious anticipation and comparisons on social media are reducing our attention span and concentration and preventing us from having higher work productivity and living a life of full potential. While at offices, the use of social media is mostly regulated by most companies around the world, working from home without a normal social life may have increased the screen time. Considering the well published ill effects of excessive use of digital devices on our mental health, it’s time to self regulate and take countermeasures. For this purpose, InApp is offering Habit and Focus Building programs to the employees for building stronger habits and enhancing their focus and attention span.

InApp Offers Habit and Focus Building Bootcamp

InApp invited Rajan Singh, the founder of HabitStrong, a life-long habit building company, to interact with employees in a virtual meeting on October 16, 2020. After getting feedback from employees on their digital habits and stress management, Mr. Rajan spoke at length about the ill effects of excessive use of mobile phones and their role in making the users anxious and stressed, thus, in reducing our productivity. Most of the employees found the interaction highly informative. To further help those interested in getting outside help for inculcating strong life-long habits, InApp in association with HabitStrong has sponsored four weeks Digital Detox & Focus Building Bootcamp run by Mr. Rajan.

Six Months’ AWS Cloud Technologies Training

Considering that technologies are changing fast and new developments are happening in almost all fields, it becomes imperative for a technology company like InApp to keep its employees updated in advancements in relevant fields. With this view, the Learning & Development Division at InApp is conducting a training program on AWS Cloud Technologies for interested employees to keep them abreast of the latest developments in the area. Consisting of two levels, beginners and advance, the program will run for six months and will have classes by mentors, assignments and an evaluation for grading at the end. The program is seeing enthusiastic participation with more than 40 trainees and 10 mentors attending it.

AI-Based Screening Tool for Asymptomatic Cases

In what might be a very convenient screening tool for asymptomatic people infected with Coronavirus, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed an AI (Artificial Intelligence) based tool. In their paper published in the IEEE Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, the researchers say that a recording of a cough, forced or induced, in an app installed on a smartphone, PC or laptop can confirm the infection with very high accuracy. According to the authors of the study, the system has shown 100% accuracy for asymptomatic cases, which later tested positive.

Source：InApp