The digital age is complex and unpredictable. Despite the dominant negative technology bias or even technophobia, I take a cautiously optimistic stand to counterbalance those negative narratives. However, I am also pragmatic. I prioritise a healthy mental hygiene and work softly on improving my digital habits as soon as a shift becomes tangible.
In my client work, 2025 marks the year AI goes public, even though I have been working in social media marketing for it for quite a few years now. The impact of humanity embracing AI solutions dominates the news these days, with research finally catching up.
In light of the recent MIT findings that AI use may decrease our cognitive functions (and, by extension, critical thinking), I am exploring today how we can practice healthy psychological resistance for better digital wellbeing. Here are my personal initial reactions:
- Let’s pause and MAKE more time for cognitive work. AI tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT can help us reduce the time spent on research and thinking. If we don’t flex the thinking muscle, our neurons, of course, will atrophy. So let’s plan more thinking time. (My action: I have doubled the time allocated for my thinking, admin and email checking activities in my calendar every day. For example, morning admin and planning the day now takes an entire hour, so I have time to think, strategise, check email and think more.)
- Let’s work HARDER. I still advocate for organised and smart work, of course, but let’s not give in to the White Euro-Patriarchal worship of comfort and solutionism. We can still afford a few minutes for a thorough Google or Academic search instead of a Perplexity prompt, which then needs to be validated and fact-checked for potential hallucinations. Let’s flex the thinking muscle a bit to keep it up. (My action: I start with the embodied thinking and choose the less comfortable way forward. Today in the city, quite literally, I took the stairs down instead of the escalators as a metaphor of this commitment.)
- Let’s HONOUR and RESPECT each other through genuine human contact. Let’s respond to emails within 3 days (UK standard of polite communication) or a day (in Poland), instead of dragging it out for weeks (my current experience with many email requests, which feels like sending them into the void of the Internet). Regardless of our workload, how fast we engage with a fellow human is on us, no excuses. We need to plan our work better, allocate time for communication (I do appreciate that in the digital age, this feels radical to state), practice good quality of attention (yes, that’s the long tail of social media use) and care for each other. Something AI maths may be able to replicate, but not genuinely feel and reciprocate in such a beautiful human manner. (My action: I respond to client emails within 3 hrs, to all daily emails on the day; on rare occasions, I take 3-7 days if my response needs careful consideration or drafting something larger. I also started chasing people up if I don’t hear back in a week, politely, but to practice human contact.)
These are my initial ideas. I would love to hear your tips. You may think: Oh, Sylwia, but this means we will get left behind! My answer: Behind what? With the rise of AI use, people with higher cognitive functioning have a competitive advantage. Thus, I bet on protecting our thinking capacities. Let me know what you think (no pun intended)!
