Pol Osés: "Addiction to technology can be the new pandemic"

New technologies are both a cause and a possible solution of many of the psychological problems in our era. An infinite number of tools that promise to make our lives easier, paradoxically, too can generate addiction or keep us pending matters that should be secondary.

In this situation, many psychologists are beginning to warn that misuse of technology can lead to physical and mental disorders. Recently, the DGT released a worrying piece of information: every year close to 400 deaths due to the misuse of smartphones, most of them due to distractions behind the wheel that lead to accidents.

We talked with Pol Osés about new technologies and psychology

We have been able to talk with Pol Osés, one of the most recognized psychologists in the Catalan capital, about this technology-life duality. What factors do we have to take into account to make a healthy approach to technology? Have addiction cases increased during quarantine? How do you try to manage this reality from psychological intervention? Osés will help us understand all this.

Bertrand Regader: How are day-to-day technology (smartphones, tablets, computers) related to our mental health? Could the Covid-19 pandemic have accelerated this process of 'technologization' of our society?

Pol Osés: There is a general conception that new technologies are misused in today's societies, which, from my point of view, is quite consistent with reality.

Do we have to educate so that a healthy use of the new technologies is made? Without a doubt. In the last 20-25 years, computers, the internet and smartphones have entered our lives to transform them in record time, which It should not scare us, but we do have to understand that misuse of these can have very negative consequences for our health. mental.

Addiction to social media, sedentary lifestyle, lack of social skills, sleep problems or anxiety among others, are some of the problems that can develop if new technologies are misused. These are a very powerful tool that can make our lives better and easier as long as we become aware of the benefits and harms associated with their use.

To the second part of the question, without a doubt this period of confinement at home has forced to carry out many tasks, tasks or moments of entertainment through environments virtual. Work from home, meetings with friends or family, purchases, bank procedures, medical visits, etc., are an example of some, This situation has accelerated the process of transformation towards a more digital society and where technology is increasingly present. day.

You attend to many cases of people who have certain difficulties when it comes to managing their time in front of the screen. What are the most effective therapy methods when it comes to improving this facet?

In recent years, the frequency of patients with problems linked especially to excessive use of smartphones has increased considerably, the dependence it generates on some people is very high and this leads to both physical and psychological.

Decompensations in the reward systems of the brain, anxiety, stress, insomnia, postural problems or headaches are some of the problems that spending too many hours in front of a screen can cause.

In case of encountering these cases, the most common thing is to use cognitive-behavioral therapy to deactivate certain habits and build a new behavior model in relation to the use of new technologies. It is important to highlight that a thorough analysis of all vital areas of the person must be carried out beforehand, since this type of addiction, as well as any other, has the origin in emotional imbalances that lead to the development of maladaptive behaviors, in this case of dependence/addiction on smartphones or video games due to example.

There is a paradox that there are interesting technological resources that allow us to rationalize the use and abuse of electronic gadgets. Which ones do you think might be more interesting?

Exactly. This use can be very positive as long as, obviously, there is no problem of addiction to the basic smartphone. If it is about providing the user with tools for problems such as anxiety or subclinical stress, for example, there are interesting apps that can be useful. In any case, the premise must be that we can never substitute psychological therapy for these resources... They are valuable and practical resources, but they must always go hand in hand with a professional and personalized approach.

That being said, I am usually up to date with new applications that aim to improve some psychological or psychopathological aspect. The more than known calm It is interesting because it brings us closer to the world of meditation in a very studied way.

With the confinement, the ban is opened so that many of us do not know how to end the working day and continue teleworking for more hours than should be. Do you think that the cases of burnout syndrome will increase with this 'new normal' in which remote work will gain ground?

Most likely, because as I have been telling you throughout the interview, they are new realities from which we have to learn based on trial-error, generating knowledge about it and over time defining routines and habits that make working from home.

Currently we find cases in which the one known in English as "Home office" is causing a non-dissociation between the time/space of work and personal life. As a consequence, since 50-60% of the hours that we are awake are dedicated to work, this causes work to go representing a greater % of our day if we do not respect our start and end times of the working day, hours of sleep, meals, breaks between hours, or the fact of not being as productive at home as at work and that this leads to an extension of the day labor.

If we do not manage to separate well within the same space the professional from the personal, the cases of Burnout syndrome will increase considerably.

Therefore, it is advisable to delimit a space to work at home that we dedicate exclusively for it, which on the one hand isolate us from all kinds of distractions that we have at home and at the same time, when our workday ends or we have a break, we can close a door and somehow isolate everything we associate with work (laptop, mobile, notebooks, documents, etc.).

In addition to the negative consequences that we have already mentioned, let's try to get the positive part out of this process in which we are immersed... What advantages do you find as a health psychologist in this new reality?

The advantages associated with working from home are many, but they will come as long as we apply all the recommendations mentioned above and let us be aware of the harmful part that not do it.

Main advantages are associated with the optimization of resources, time, money and energy.

If before we used to spend 45 minutes to travel to our place of work, now we will save this round trip time. We will avoid the physical and psychological wear and tear generated by traveling at peak times on public or private transport in urban areas, in addition to the costs derived from such displacements.

On the other hand, we will be able to work more independently and have greater flexibility in our schedules, which which will allow us to better combine it with family life, hobbies or studying a course among many other things.

At a professional level, by increasing our perception of quality of life, our productivity will increase, which will also be positive for our self-esteem and the company's activity.