Written by: Richie Perera, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
When the world went into lockdown in 2020, none of us could have imagined the new working world that would emerge post-pandemic. "Hybrid working" or "the new normal" were terms hardly used. Technology such as Teams or Zoom was mostly unheard of, with many of us having no use for such platforms which now play a crucial and integral part in the new normal we all live in.
The new normal and the technology that comes with has divided the workplace into three environments, the office, online and the home. Historically, best practice for health and safety has only been established for the office environment. We are now working at home, online, or both, more than ever and that brings with it a new set of challenges when it comes to our mental health and wellbeing. It has left both people and employers disorientated.
We are now online, on a screen, more than ever. Consider smartphones, users receive 427% more messages and notifications than they did a decade ago, and users send 278% more messages. Phone addiction is a real thing, termed "Nomophobia", or the fear of being without your smartphone.
In the new normal, we live our lives moving from one screen to another, we wake up with our phones, work on our laptops, move on to our televisions and go to bed with our tablets or phone. This "living on a screen" lifestyle is the opposite of our human nature and when we go against our human nature, there are severe consequences. When it comes to technology, we are at a crossroads. Technology is developing at a furious pace but heading in the opposite direction to our human needs. We are currently struggling to manage ourselves, drowning in our technology at a detriment to our health and wellbeing.
The online environment has created a subset of the human population that is struggling, addicted or dependent digitally. Many people have a long way to go in healthily managing their digital time on a personal and professional level. As technology advances, undoubtedly, we are going to spend even more time in the digital world.
The Holy Quaternity of Mental Health
We have all heard of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in Christianity, but have you heard of the Holy Quaternity of Mental Health?
The holy quaternity represents four of the most important things we can do to build a solid foundation for our health and wellbeing. They are sleep, diet, exercise and digitally detoxing.
When I deliver mental health first aid training through my organisation Mental Health and Life. I always ensure that these four essential aspects are deep-dived with learners. Being literate on the fact that everything we need to do for our wellbeing lies in our actions, and the connection of that action to happiness is the foundation of mental health awareness and mental health first aid training
Now let's take a closer look at the Holy Quaternity of Mental Health!
Sleep
We all need eight solid hours of sleep for optimal regeneration of the mind and body. According to our circadian rhythms, every hour before midnight is worth two. So, early to bed and early to rise will not just be wise, but also healthy!
Diet
Your gut produces 90% of your serotonin and this is where 70% of your immune system is based. Serotonin is directly connected to your mood, memory, digestion, sleep, sexual function and bone health. Your gut is your second brain, it stabilises your mood, feelings of well-being, and happiness. Therefore, if you eat crap you will feel like crap. Feeling good starts with your food and your belly, so be mindful of what you put in there.
Exercise
Physical activity hugely enhances our wellbeing, and we need to be active every day. Even a burst of 10 minutes of walking increases our mental alertness, energy and positive mood. Regular physical activity can increase our self-esteem and can reduce stress and anxiety. Cardio exercise has now been proven to be the best type of activity for mental health.
Digitally Detoxing
You may be shocked to know that the average Brit now spends thirty-four years and the average American forty-three years staring at screens. Staring at screens also comes with a lot of sitting and sitting is the new smoking!
Sitting is the New Smoking!
Prolonged sitting increases the risk of disease and death, it is linked to a 112% increased risk of diabetes. 147% increased risk of cardiovascular events and a 90% increased risk of death from cardiovascular events such as a stroke or a heart attack.
Dr Marie Pasinksi, Professor of Neurology and Brain Health Expert at Harvard Medical School quoted "Prolonged sitting takes a profound toll on your brain, simply getting up every half hour for two minutes improves brain blood flow and metabolism, standing up every half hour promotes new connections and new neurons between your brain and your nervous system. Sitting for long periods can lead to decreased blood flow to the brain, which can impair cognitive function, attention, and memory, and can lead to physical and mental fatigue, poor circulation, and increased risk of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other health problems."
If we are not careful in how we manage our Holy Quaternity, health issues are guaranteed. It's not a matter of if, it's more when. This then leads us perfectly to the Metaverse, as it will bring even more sitting and online time.
Managing the Metaverse
The Metaverse is a virtual-reality space in which we can all interact through avatars in a computer-generated environment. You can create your digital twin in the metaverse and go about your everyday life, using the same headsets and glasses as used in virtual and augmented reality video games. The metaverse is a total immersion into the digital world and for many, it will be a total disconnect from reality and the physical world.
When I first watched Mark Zuckerberg's one-hour and seventeen-minute video ‒ The Metaverse and How We'll Build It Together, l felt as excited as I felt nauseous.
The possibilities of the metaverse are limitless for organisations and people, but it's coming at a time when people are already struggling with the impact of existing technology. A fully immersive digital experience such as the metaverse can only add fuel to this fire. The metaverse is the current digital world on steroids, a world that carries major risk factors attached to our mental health and wellbeing.
Technology has been addictive so far and the metaverse will be even more addictive, hence we need to be prepared if the metaverse becomes the next Zoom or Teams. Imagine having a work meeting on a beach in Sri Lanka or having an appraisal while driving route 66 in a convertible or even your lunch break from a spaceship. Imagine teleporting from office to office internationally and working with colleagues on projects in their own office space. The metaverse can be used for work and work drinks can happen virtually at a bar or concert of your choice.
If you are unhappy with the way you look, you can change it, if you are unhappy with your wardrobe, you can change it, if you are unhappy with your social circle, you can meet new digital people from around the world. Your avatar does not even have to take a human form, you can be a robot or a fluffy bunny. Eventually, you may never have to leave the metaverse to do most things!
The metaverse offers an opportunity for social connection, creativity, and exploration that could potentially improve mental well-being. Bringing a sense of belonging in virtual communities or finding new ways to express oneself creatively. The problem is that the metaverse is not reality, and the worry is, how will people deal with the real world when they are much happier and content in the metaverse?
The metaverse is moving fast. Microsoft has created their metaverse. It is fast becoming a functioning world with machine learning, blockchain technology and digital currencies all playing their part. You can buy land and real estate in the metaverse. Commerce will be a big part of the metaverse. According to Forbes, companies such as PwC, JP Morgan, HSBC, and Samsung have invested in prime plots of land in the metaverse ready for development.
The metaverse will not only immerse us in the digital world, but it will also mix realities via VR (virtual reality) or AR (augmented reality) glasses. The digital world will be merged into the physical world via these glasses. A person can put on these glasses and interact digitally with holograms and augmented realities in the real physical world. Therefore, you don't have to be in your home with a headset on. You can be digitally connected via these glasses constantly merging the digital and physical world even as you take a walk. This will blur the two realities which may become problematic for some people.
Zuckerberg states that Meta is about connecting people to people, whereas other tech companies connect people to technology, and the thing that matters most is people. So it was frustrating that nothing in the video discussed mental health when it has the potential to revolutionise the way we manage ourselves digitally.
Online education led by tech companies has historically been lacking. Even in the "building responsibly" part of Zuckerberg's video, there are discussions around privacy, security, and inclusion. There is no mention of the potential psychological impact of its use and how the company will attenuate those risks. With mental health and wellbeing, the metaverse is uncharted territory, so it's surprising with so many great minds at Meta, they have not put mental health at the centrepiece of their agenda. Does this oversight give us an insight into the minds of people at Meta and their illiteracy of mental health and wellbeing, or is it by design?
The metaverse will be a gift and a curse, it has the potential to be the cure or exacerbate our current digital addiction and isolation. The direction the metaverse will head towards will all depend on the leadership at companies like Meta but managing it safely will be down to individual users and organisations. Unfortunately, this has not played out well in our existing digital world.
If not managed well, total immersion and mixed realities have the potential to fuel this problem, further creating a subset of humans that struggle to function in the real world. Therefore, people and organisations must take an urgent and proactive approach to how digital time is managed right now before the metaverse comes along with its potential to create further health and social issues in the way we manage our digital time. This is where training like mental health first aid comes into its own, for both people and organisations.
The impact of the metaverse on mental health will be complex and multifaceted, it will also differ depending on factors such as age, personality, and life circumstances. It will be imperative for individuals, workplaces and society to monitor the impact of the metaverse on mental health. Therefore, being mentally literate as a person, and having mentally literate workplaces, are crucial in the new normal we are currently building.
There are other advancements in technology alongside the metaverse that will dramatically change the way we work soon. I have written extensively on how they can be managed safely in my book Managing People in the New Normal.
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Richie Perera, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Richie is an award-winning CEO and Founder of Mental Health and Life, an organisation that delivers Mental Health First Aid, Race Equity and Suicide Intervention training. Richie is recognised as a global leader in people management and the author of the groundbreaking book, Managing People in the New Normal. Richie is a speaker and consultant on workplace mental health and wellbeing describing it as the most overlooked, undervalued, yet most lucrative facet of business.
