{"id":68252,"date":"2020-04-19T04:55:09","date_gmt":"2020-04-18T17:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?p=68252"},"modified":"2020-04-16T12:03:22","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T01:03:22","slug":"maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHILE spending more time at home, whether solo, with a partner or family, many of us will look to our devices to reach out to friends digitally, or gauge what\u2019s going on in the world.<\/p>\n

Cyber psychology researcher and Federation University lecturer, Dr Evita March said it\u2019s easy to fall into a social media trap and increase screen time, but it should be kept in moderation.<\/p>\n

In the current climate, the news and changes to routine could already be causing a lot of stress. She added that there\u2019s often a link between a person\u2019s mood and their online behaviour, so increased screen time could be harmful throughout this period if a person is not in a good headspace.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people are in a bad mood, upset, frustrated or angry, they do tend to become more antisocial online,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, there was one study that primed participants to be frustrated, and then looked at trolling and cyber abuse online. When people were frustrated, they were more likely to begin abusing others.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the current climate, Dr March said this is an important piece of information for anyone to be mindful of. Self-assessing social media habits might be appropriate, not only to look after yourself, but others on the other side of the screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo doubt, a lot of us are frustrated now. It\u2019s having an impact on our mood, so if we are looking for an escape, being online is not the best way we should be distracting ourselves,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsing social media more now, when our mood is impacted negatively, it is far more likely that we\u2019re going to use it in a way that\u2019s not very healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith that in mind, it really is a good time to re-check your social media use because it could be an environment you\u2019re engaging in that\u2019s not very positive. It does link into the idea of detoxing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Video calling friends, family or colleagues rather than just typing a text message or email helps us maintain a sense of empathy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr March encourages smartphone owners to monitor their device\u2019s built-in screen time calculator to see if their use has changed while in lockdown.<\/p>\n

After a long day at home, a person could be wanting some decompression, or they may feel mentally well. Either way, Dr March said they should avoid logging onto networking apps simply as a means to \u201cup their mood,\u201d whether they usually have healthy digital habits or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing online isn\u2019t the best option. We should be looking to other mechanisms. That\u2019s the time when we should be taking the dog for a walk, gardening, doing things outside, or even a puzzle…<\/p>\n

\u201cPen to paper journaling has good mental health outcomes. Write about how you\u2019re feeling. Mindfulness activities will increase our mood. Social media is not the answer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Overall, Dr March wants people to be weary of their own capacity to be empathetic, and how screen time can also be beneficial for connection, whether personally or professionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn times where you would have just done a phone call, try a video chat. It\u2019s something I\u2019m really quite passionate about. Don\u2019t just rely on messaging or getting in touch through status updates because we know empathy has such a biological component.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur brain is wired to mirror others we see, and the physiological basis of empathy is on our face. Seeing a face keeps you practicing empathy. Take that away, we suffer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider how many faces you\u2019d see on a normal daily basis at work, compared to being isolated inside. We have to be active in trying to get that face-to-face time, and video chat is a really good way to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mid-last year, Dr March presented a TEDx lecture on cyber abuse and radical empathy. Visit youtube.com\/watch?v=J4-yV3pOTWM <\/strong><\/a>to explore more of this research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WHILE spending more time at home, whether solo, with a partner or family, many of us will look to our devices to reach out to friends digitally, or gauge what\u2019s going on in the world. Cyber psychology researcher and Federation University lecturer, Dr Evita March said it\u2019s easy to fall into a social media trap […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":68253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-68252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaintaining empathy with moderated screen time - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time - Golden Plains Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WHILE spending more time at home, whether solo, with a partner or family, many of us will look to our devices to reach out to friends digitally, or gauge what\u2019s going on in the world. Cyber psychology researcher and Federation University lecturer, Dr Evita March said it\u2019s easy to fall into a social media trap [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Golden Plains Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-18T17:55:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/04\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Edwina Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9\"},\"headline\":\"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-18T17:55:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":677,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/\",\"name\":\"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time - Golden Plains Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-18T17:55:09+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667,\"caption\":\"Self-assessment: Dr Evita March said regretful digital footprints could be made while heading on social media in a bad mood. Photos: FILE\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/\",\"name\":\"Golden Plains Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Golden Plains Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/GoldenPlainsNew.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/GoldenPlainsNew.png\",\"width\":3208,\"height\":336,\"caption\":\"Golden Plains Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9\",\"name\":\"Edwina Williams\",\"description\":\"Edwina Williams is the Times News Group's Northern Victoria editor covering the Ballarat Times News Group, Golden Plains Times, Moorabool News, Bendigo Times, and McIvor Times.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/emwilliamsjourno\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/author\\\/edwina\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time - Golden Plains Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time - Golden Plains Times","og_description":"WHILE spending more time at home, whether solo, with a partner or family, many of us will look to our devices to reach out to friends digitally, or gauge what\u2019s going on in the world. Cyber psychology researcher and Federation University lecturer, Dr Evita March said it\u2019s easy to fall into a social media trap [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/","og_site_name":"Golden Plains Times","article_published_time":"2020-04-18T17:55:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":667,"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/04\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Edwina Williams","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Edwina Williams","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/"},"author":{"name":"Edwina Williams","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/person\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9"},"headline":"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time","datePublished":"2020-04-18T17:55:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/"},"wordCount":677,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/04\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/","name":"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time - Golden Plains Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/04\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg","datePublished":"2020-04-18T17:55:09+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/04\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/04\/socials-2-scaled-e1586855463583.jpg","width":1000,"height":667,"caption":"Self-assessment: Dr Evita March said regretful digital footprints could be made while heading on social media in a bad mood. Photos: FILE"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/maintaining-empathy-with-moderated-screen-time\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Maintaining empathy with moderated screen time"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/","name":"Golden Plains Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#organization","name":"Golden Plains Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/GoldenPlainsNew.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2020\/12\/GoldenPlainsNew.png","width":3208,"height":336,"caption":"Golden Plains Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/#\/schema\/person\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9","name":"Edwina Williams","description":"Edwina Williams is the Times News Group's Northern Victoria editor covering the Ballarat Times News Group, Golden Plains Times, Moorabool News, Bendigo Times, and McIvor Times.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/emwilliamsjourno\/"],"url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/author\/edwina\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68252"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=68252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}