The Healthy Dose, 004: Digital Wellness & My Health Beacon

My fourth installment of the dose looks at the topic of digital wellness, and asking folks to step away from their devices for a moment. While also looking at the new online scheduling portal for University Health Services at UMass Boston

Social media are great! Social media are also the worst.
The absolute worst.

I’m all over social media—I don’t hide it. I use it to keep so many aspects of my life under control. To the point where most of my life is truly controlled by social media and my digital devices.

This is both fun and troublesome.

Because like many folks in our global society, I’ve become quite accustom to having a reliance on my digital devices to keep me functioning in the world.
Alas, there are many psychological and mental health issues at play when we develop such an adherence to our digital life.

So I’m here to discuss the idea of digital wellness.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you commute, and while you commute, you’re flipping through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, news articles, cat videos, How It’s Made videos, record shopping on Amazon, or sending snaps of people on the train using whatever new snap filter was released that day.

All of this digital exposure can take its toll on our brains and distance us from the real world around us.

Social media and Wellness

Digital wellness encompasses a couple of things—first, in order to maintain good digital wellness, you need to step away from your devices for a little bit. I know this might seem scary, but seriously. Put the phone away during class, or during meals, or during your commute. Instead, pick up a book, or have a conversation with someone.

With social media being the epicenter of our digital lives, the existence of FOMO often permeates our lives. FOMO is the fear of missing out. This fear is what many people latch onto when it comes to believing that their friend’s lives are better or more interesting than their own.

When in reality, the majority of what people post online are the highlights, the extravagance, or even a perception of extravagance. Ultimately, it’s important not to get hung up on any of that stuff. It will only stress you out further, and cause you anxiety.

My suggestion is to make sure you recognize that regardless of what you post online, or what you read online, that your life matters and that you have value. Don’t get caught up in the perceptions that your friends or celebrities present on social media. It’s all smoke and mirrors.
Or, Photoshop and filters, I should say.

Consider the Content You Create

Now, the other component of digital wellness is essentially taking care of the content you create and share on the internet. The reality of today’s society is that what happens on the internet stays on the internet.

This can be a scary thing to process right now, so I’ll give you a minute to process.

Are you back? Okay.

Truthfully, I can’t tell you what you should and shouldn’t share on the internet. And I wouldn’t want to do that. However, I have done a lot of research on social media, and one of the biggest regrets many students express about their online presence is that an embarrassing picture came back to haunt them later when interviewing for a job. Or a tweet they sent years ago wound up being misconstrued in some way and they were declined a job.

Job recruiters check that stuff these days, so it’s important to be aware of your online presence.
You can’t control the internet, but you can control what you contribute to it. So think before you tweet/post/share, and that will greatly benefit your digital wellness.

My Health Beacon

Yet, since we have become the generation of digital devotees, it is important to consider that there are some advancements that do in fact benefit the hustle and bustle of our daily lives
.
One of those innovations is the creation of My Health Beacon—a fully online registration and account management system through University Health Services.

My Health Beacon online portal was introduced in January as a way to improve your experience with the resources at UHS.

The My Health Beacon portal allows you to schedule or cancel your appointments with University Health Services, send secure messages to your health care providers, view and print your immunization information, and complete any necessary forms or surveys. All of this is meant to make your experience with UHS much simpler and accessible for your busy lives, and to make sure that you have as much time with your healthcare provider as possible.

Also, if you haven’t been over to UHS (Quinn Administration building, second floor) in a while, you can check the sweet new iPad self-check system that allows you the ability to self-check in for appointments, capture insurance card images, complete compliance forms, surveys, and visit questionnaires.

Be sure to check out the My Health Beacon portal on the UHS website, and use your digital skills to take of your wellness! Thus, contributing to the enhancement of your overall wellness.