Cell phones and other digital devices can be a great way to keep up with the news and stay connected with friends and family, but using one excessively can increase your stress levels, negatively impact sleep and limit the amount of quality time you spend with your significant other.
Research shows the average American spends more than four hours a day using a smartphone. If that’s you, it might worth considering a digital detox, something many health experts recommend and a practice that’s becoming more popular in the digital age.
Time away
A digital detox is a period of time when a person refrains from using digital devices such as smartphones, TVs, computers, tablets and social media sites. Experts say digital detoxes can translate into more enriching interactions with others and a healthy reset of your inner psyche.
“Spending too much time on mobile devices can be a form of procrastination and a distraction from the things that matter most to us,” says Heather Partridge, a behavioral health counselor at Tidelands Health Family Medicine at Holmestown Road in Myrtle Beach. “It’s important to ask yourself, ‘What are you missing out on during those four hours that you’re on the phone every day?’”
Tech devices have been linked to an increase in stress and anxiety, and research shows using such devices at bedtime can result in shorter sleep cycles and increased bouts of insomnia.
A digital detox can improve mental well-being, relieve stress and help strengthen bonds with others, Partridge says.
Is it time?
Consider a digital detox if:
You’re “phubbing” (snubbing by using your phone) family members with phone in hand when you could be spending quality time together.
Your phone is the first and last thing you see on a daily basis.
You freak out when you’ve forgotten your phone during a trip away from the house.
You turn to your phone when you’re bored and spend time mindlessly scrolling through social media.
You’re staying up late surfing the Internet on your smartphone and compromising quality sleep time.
You’re obsessive about checking your phone for texts and the number of likes a social media post has received.
Completely detaching for a period of time may not be realistic for people whose phones are important to their livelihood, but some separation could be beneficial. It’s about setting healthy boundaries and using the device in ways that enhance both emotional and physical well-being, Partridge says.
“Moderation is key,” she adds. “Set limits and boundaries. There is a great benefit to regularly doing a digital detox.”
Better alternatives
Here are some ideas for a healthy digital detox:
Focus on self-care, such as treating yourself to a long bath or meditation instead of spending time scrolling, swiping and browsing.
Practice mindfulness; be fully present in every moment and recognize and appreciate everything around you.
Replace the time you waste on your phone with learning a new hobby such as playing the guitar or painting.
Create boundaries such as limiting the amount of time you spend answering work emails once you’re home.
Commit to no electronics at the dinner table.
Keep the phone out of your bedroom and instead try reading a book or magazine in the minutes before you drift off to sleep.
Use an alarm clock to wake you in the morning rather than depending on your phone.
Join your kids outside to shoot hoops, play catch or ride bicycles.
Detaching digitally might make you feel uneasy initially, but it can be a refreshing and rewarding experience when it’s all said and done. It can help you improve your mental health, become more personable, deepen relationships and sleep better.
Cell phones and other digital devices can be a great way to keep up with the news and stay connected with friends and family, but using one excessively can increase your stress levels, negatively impact sleep and limit the amount of quality time you spend with your significant other.
Research shows the average American spends more than four hours a day using a smartphone. If that’s you, it might worth considering a digital detox, something many health experts recommend and a practice that’s becoming more popular in the digital age.
Time away
A digital detox is a period of time when a person refrains from using digital devices such as smartphones, TVs, computers, tablets and social media sites. Experts say digital detoxes can translate into more enriching interactions with others and a healthy reset of your inner psyche.
“Spending too much time on mobile devices can be a form of procrastination and a distraction from the things that matter most to us,” says Heather Partridge, a behavioral health counselor at Tidelands Health Family Medicine at Holmestown Road in Myrtle Beach. “It’s important to ask yourself, ‘What are you missing out on during those four hours that you’re on the phone every day?’”
Tech devices have been linked to an increase in stress and anxiety, and research shows using such devices at bedtime can result in shorter sleep cycles and increased bouts of insomnia.
A digital detox can improve mental well-being, relieve stress and help strengthen bonds with others, Partridge says.
Is it time?
Consider a digital detox if:
You’re “phubbing” (snubbing by using your phone) family members with phone in hand when you could be spending quality time together.
Your phone is the first and last thing you see on a daily basis.
You freak out when you’ve forgotten your phone during a trip away from the house.
You turn to your phone when you’re bored and spend time mindlessly scrolling through social media.
You’re staying up late surfing the Internet on your smartphone and compromising quality sleep time.
You’re obsessive about checking your phone for texts and the number of likes a social media post has received.
Completely detaching for a period of time may not be realistic for people whose phones are important to their livelihood, but some separation could be beneficial. It’s about setting healthy boundaries and using the device in ways that enhance both emotional and physical well-being, Partridge says.
“Moderation is key,” she adds. “Set limits and boundaries. There is a great benefit to regularly doing a digital detox.”
Better alternatives
Here are some ideas for a healthy digital detox:
Focus on self-care, such as treating yourself to a long bath or meditation instead of spending time scrolling, swiping and browsing.
Practice mindfulness; be fully present in every moment and recognize and appreciate everything around you.
Replace the time you waste on your phone with learning a new hobby such as playing the guitar or painting.
Create boundaries such as limiting the amount of time you spend answering work emails once you’re home.
Commit to no electronics at the dinner table.
Keep the phone out of your bedroom and instead try reading a book or magazine in the minutes before you drift off to sleep.
Use an alarm clock to wake you in the morning rather than depending on your phone.
Join your kids outside to shoot hoops, play catch or ride bicycles.
Detaching digitally might make you feel uneasy initially, but it can be a refreshing and rewarding experience when it’s all said and done. It can help you improve your mental health, become more personable, deepen relationships and sleep better.
Staying busy, positive, and hopeful while you’re at home due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic can help you maintain good mental and physical health.
Much of America is homebound in response to calls for limited travel and social distancing to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Even if you can’t get together with friends or enjoy a night at the movies, it’s important to stay physically and mentally active.
“We’re living in unusual times, and it can definitely be a challenge to adjust,” says Dr. Gerald Harmon, vice president of medical affairs at Tidelands Health. “But it’s important to take a step back and look for ways to adapt your lifestyle so that you can stay both physically and mentally well.”
Attitude is everything
Dr. Harmon says a good attitude is essential. Rather than focusing only on the negatives of the situation, try to look at it as an opportunity to refocus, reflect, and revisit old habits. Consider these ideas to keep your mind and body active:
Start a virtual book club. Exercise your mind’s eye by losing yourself in an e-book or audiobook, which can easily be downloaded to your tablet or smartphone. Better yet, create a virtual book club and video chat with friends to discuss what you’ve read.
Learn a foreign language. With travel restrictions forbidding international travel, embark instead on a journey around the world by studying and learning important phrases in a foreign language.
Try backyard birdwatching. Download a bird-watching app and find relaxation in your own backyard by seeing how many birds you can spot. Stay on the lookout while you go for your daily walk through the neighborhood.
Get (or stay) in shape. Exercising outdoors is great therapy. You can enjoy the fresh air and allow the sounds of nature, from singing birds to the wrestling of leaves, to soothe your soul. There’s also plenty of free exercise videos available for tablets and smartphones that require no equipment to achieve a satisfying workout.
Test your cooking skills. Now is a great time to revisit old family recipes and get to know your kitchen better by cooking your own meals. Family members and roommates can take turns making meals for each other.
Video chat with family. If you live alone, you can connect with children and grandchildren with ease thanks to video chatting. Keep your cell phone or tablet charged and check in often with family and friends. Consider making your own videos to share with loved ones so they can see your face and hear your voice when they’re feeling lonely.
Have a puzzle party. For a great way to help families stay occupied, pull out a massive puzzle, and work on it together at the dining room table.
Get crafty. To help you focus on something other than the coronavirus, pick up an old pastime like crocheting, pottery making, or painting. Even coloring books and paint-by-number canvases can help temper your anxieties and result in beautiful works of art that can lift your spirits.
Hike or bike local trails. Go for a hike or a bike ride on local trails (check to make sure they’re open and available for use before you leave home). Make sure to maintain a distance of at least six feet from others if you venture out.
Take on DIY projects. Tackle a home project you’ve been putting off such as cleaning out your closet or the junk drawer, pruning bushes and repotting plants, or redecorating a room in your home using stuff you’ve stored away in your garage or attic.
“Eventually, we will get through this,” Dr. Harmon says. “Try to take this time to focus on yourself and your family, and remember that the sacrifices you are making by following social distancing recommendations are helping to protect yourself, your family members, and our community.”
St. James Elementary School principal Felisa McDavid and her husband, Ray, were crushed when their son, Treylind, arrived stillborn.
Every year on her stillborn son’s birthday, Felisa McDavid blesses an unsuspecting mother and her newborn son with a gift bag full of baby items.
McDavid’s son, Treylind, was delivered on Sept. 26, 2001, in a hospital near Charleston, her hometown. McDavid and her husband, Ray, were crushed when he arrived stillborn.
“I had a couple of miscarriages before we conceived him,” says McDavid, now a Forestbrook resident. “Losing him left me very distraught, of course. And I was not able to conceive after that; I’ve not been able to have children.”
As she mourned the loss of her son, friends and family tiptoed around her wounded heart. She couldn’t bear to hear about other pregnancies or deliveries, attend baby showers or share in the joys of other mothers with newborns. She steeped in grief for years.
“It’s been quite a process to get to the point where I could even talk about it,” she says. “Even members of my family were reluctant to tell me about their pregnancies.”
Finding purpose
The McDavids desperately wanted children after they married on June 20, 1998.
An educator with a love for youngsters, McDavid has worked with children for 28 years. She now serves as the principal at St. James Elementary School in Myrtle Beach.
After several miscarriages, the loss of Treylind following a full-term pregnancy left the couple bereaved and broken.
Felisa McDavid questioned how losing her son fit into God’s plan for her life. She asked God for direction on how to deal with the void and her feelings of hopelessness.
Although others in her situation might have chosen to adopt a child or give to charities, McDavid says she didn’t feel led in either of those directions.
Instead, she was pulled somewhere else – to the hospital where she’d lost her son.
“I wanted to know what I could do about this void,” she says. “I’m always trying to give back, and I’ve always loved children.
“God spoke to my heart. He wanted me to revisit the hospital where I’d lost my child. While I was there, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to give something to one of these children?’”
As difficult as it was to walk into the nursery that first time since losing her son two years before, McDavid knew it was exactly where she needed to begin healing.
On the third anniversary of her son’s death, McDavid brought a gift bag to the hospital and gave it to a woman who had given birth the day before.
“We talked and I shared with her my experience,” McDavid says. “I had the gift in my hand. I asked her if she’d receive the gift. She said, ‘Yes, and thank you.’ I cried. She cried.”
A ministry was born.
A move
The following year, McDavid, who moved to Horry County in 2003, reached out to the team at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital to tell her story and explain her interest in continuing her work at the hospital.
“They just received me so well,” she says. “The nursing team made me feel good about what I was doing.”
Her visit in September 2019 marked the 14th year McDavid has stopped by Tidelands Waccamaw on the anniversary of her son’s stillbirth to deliver a gift bag filled with rattles, bibs, onesies, stuffed toys and other items.
Every bag also contains an inspirational message from McDavid about the loss of her son and how the gift bag is a way to honor his memory by blessing another child.
Susan Follrod, a charge nurse at Tidelands Waccamaw, works with McDavid and the hospital’s labor and delivery team to arrange the gift deliveries year after year. Follrod also knows McDavid in her role as principal at St. James Elementary, where Follrod’s children attend school.
“It demonstrates that tremendous good can come from tremendous loss.”
“I am amazed and humbled by Felisa and her faith, as well as the way she turned a tragedy into a blessing for others,” Follrod says. “It’s truly inspiring. I feel very fortunate knowing her, and how lucky the students, parents and staff of St. James Elementary are to have her as their principal.”
Shelly Laird, director of women and children’s services at Tidelands Health, says McDavid’s efforts speak to the resiliency of the human spirit and helps raise awareness about the tremendous impact of losing a child.
“I was touched to hear about it,” Laird says. “It demonstrates that tremendous good can come from tremendous loss.”
One mother’s loss is another mother’s blessing
For McDavid, the most rewarding part of her mission is the opportunity to meet the mother and infant who will receive her gift bag.
“There’s a connection I make to each child every year, and I pray for them on that day,” she says.
McDavid believes God allowed her loss so she could minister to others experiencing the pain she knows all too well. When a friend lost her child a few years ago, McDavid used her experience to offer comfort and support.
“I know the Lord does things for a reason,” she says. “I’ve gone through this process so I can help others. It truly makes me feel good that I can bless another mother.
“And actually, it blesses me more than I can ever bless them.”
St. James Elementary School principal Felisa McDavid and her husband, Ray, were crushed when their son, Treylind, arrived stillborn.
Every year on her stillborn son’s birthday, Felisa McDavid blesses an unsuspecting mother and her newborn son with a gift bag full of baby items.
McDavid’s son, Treylind, was delivered on Sept. 26, 2001, in a hospital near Charleston, her hometown. McDavid and her husband, Ray, were crushed when he arrived stillborn.
“I had a couple of miscarriages before we conceived him,” says McDavid, now a Forestbrook resident. “Losing him left me very distraught, of course. And I was not able to conceive after that; I’ve not been able to have children.”
As she mourned the loss of her son, friends and family tiptoed around her wounded heart. She couldn’t bear to hear about other pregnancies or deliveries, attend baby showers or share in the joys of other mothers with newborns. She steeped in grief for years.
“It’s been quite a process to get to the point where I could even talk about it,” she says. “Even members of my family were reluctant to tell me about their pregnancies.”
Finding purpose
The McDavids desperately wanted children after they married on June 20, 1998.
An educator with a love for youngsters, McDavid has worked with children for 28 years. She now serves as the principal at St. James Elementary School in Myrtle Beach.
After several miscarriages, the loss of Treylind following a full-term pregnancy left the couple bereaved and broken.
Felisa McDavid questioned how losing her son fit into God’s plan for her life. She asked God for direction on how to deal with the void and her feelings of hopelessness.
Although others in her situation might have chosen to adopt a child or give to charities, McDavid says she didn’t feel led in either of those directions.
Instead, she was pulled somewhere else – to the hospital where she’d lost her son.
“I wanted to know what I could do about this void,” she says. “I’m always trying to give back, and I’ve always loved children.
“God spoke to my heart. He wanted me to revisit the hospital where I’d lost my child. While I was there, I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to give something to one of these children?’”
As difficult as it was to walk into the nursery that first time since losing her son two years before, McDavid knew it was exactly where she needed to begin healing.
On the third anniversary of her son’s death, McDavid brought a gift bag to the hospital and gave it to a woman who had given birth the day before.
“We talked and I shared with her my experience,” McDavid says. “I had the gift in my hand. I asked her if she’d receive the gift. She said, ‘Yes, and thank you.’ I cried. She cried.”
A ministry was born.
A move
The following year, McDavid, who moved to Horry County in 2003, reached out to the team at Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital to tell her story and explain her interest in continuing her work at the hospital.
“They just received me so well,” she says. “The nursing team made me feel good about what I was doing.”
Her visit in September 2019 marked the 14th year McDavid has stopped by Tidelands Waccamaw on the anniversary of her son’s stillbirth to deliver a gift bag filled with rattles, bibs, onesies, stuffed toys and other items.
Every bag also contains an inspirational message from McDavid about the loss of her son and how the gift bag is a way to honor his memory by blessing another child.
Susan Follrod, a charge nurse at Tidelands Waccamaw, works with McDavid and the hospital’s labor and delivery team to arrange the gift deliveries year after year. Follrod also knows McDavid in her role as principal at St. James Elementary, where Follrod’s children attend school.
“It demonstrates that tremendous good can come from tremendous loss.”
“I am amazed and humbled by Felisa and her faith, as well as the way she turned a tragedy into a blessing for others,” Follrod says. “It’s truly inspiring. I feel very fortunate knowing her, and how lucky the students, parents and staff of St. James Elementary are to have her as their principal.”
Shelly Laird, director of women and children’s services at Tidelands Health, says McDavid’s efforts speak to the resiliency of the human spirit and helps raise awareness about the tremendous impact of losing a child.
“I was touched to hear about it,” Laird says. “It demonstrates that tremendous good can come from tremendous loss.”
One mother’s loss is another mother’s blessing
For McDavid, the most rewarding part of her mission is the opportunity to meet the mother and infant who will receive her gift bag.
“There’s a connection I make to each child every year, and I pray for them on that day,” she says.
McDavid believes God allowed her loss so she could minister to others experiencing the pain she knows all too well. When a friend lost her child a few years ago, McDavid used her experience to offer comfort and support.
“I know the Lord does things for a reason,” she says. “I’ve gone through this process so I can help others. It truly makes me feel good that I can bless another mother.
“And actually, it blesses me more than I can ever bless them.”
