Smartphone detox 停掉手機網路小實驗 她的生活變得....

 TODAY’S WORDS 今日單字

1. post v.發文；公佈 

例: I need to check jobs that are posted on the bulletin board. (我需要看一下公佈在佈告欄的工作職缺。)

2. habit n. 習慣 

例: Smoking is a bad habit.(抽煙是壞習慣。)

3. take...for granted phr. 當理所當然 

例: Freedom of speech should not be taken for granted. (言論自由不應被視為理所當然。)

With the popularity of smartphones, checking Facebook, chatting, playing games and swiping a cellphone screen are common and totally normal occurrences, and more and more people are becoming heavy users. Have you ever thought what life would be like without a phone connection to the Internet?

Hsieh Hsin-hsuan, who was once shortlisted by Tourism Australia for “The Best Job in the World,” posted on Facebook on Monday last week that although she had no smartphone four years ago, she has now become a heavy Internet user. “I look at my phone right before bed, I return messages while I’m on the bus, I check Facebook while I’m eating,” she said, “How could I manage without an unlimited data plan? With everyone dumping so much information on the Internet, how can I resist rushing to catch up on it?”

Wanting to test whether she really needed the Internet so badly, Hsieh said she stopped going online on her phone for one month, forcing herself to go back to the days of reaching for her phone only when it rang, turning it on only when she had to contact someone, and waiting until she got home to respond to online messages.

When Hsieh stopped using the Internet, she got in the habit of putting books in her bag, talking to taxi drivers and chatting with the station master when waiting for a train. On weekends she lay down at the seaside, closed her eyes and listened to her friends hum songs and gossip, which enabled her to converse more clearly with her friends than all the messages that she was too busy to answer.

Hsieh reached the conclusion that we do not really need a lot, but we just get used to things and take them for granted. “If you try giving yourself back all that time, you will find that there are so many things you can do,” she said.

(Liberty Times, translated by Zane Kheir)

智慧型手機普及，看臉書、聊天、玩遊戲、滑手機，每天做這些事情正常不過，更有人成為重度使用者，你有想過有天沒有網路手機生活是如何嗎？

曾入圍澳洲旅遊局「世界最棒工作」的謝昕璇，上週一在臉書發文，指出四年前她還是一個連智慧手機都沒有的人，如今卻成了網路重度使用者，「睡前的空檔要看一下手機，搭車的空檔要回一下訊息，吃飯的空檔要看一下臉書狀態，網路怎麼可能不吃到飽？別人丟的資訊這麼多不快看怎麼行？」

「想測試自己是不是真的這麼需要網路！」謝昕璇說，她停掉網路一個月，讓自己回到只有手機響才會拿出來、需要聯繫才能打開、唯有回家才能有網路回覆的時候。

謝昕璇在停網路的時候，開始習慣在包包中放本書、坐計程車或等車就和司機、站長聊天、週末躺在海邊，閉著眼睛聽朋友哼歌、聊八卦，原本回不完的簡訊，更能一次表達清楚。

謝昕璇也得到了結論，「原來我們需要的真的不多，只是已經習慣了，就當理所當然了！試著把時間還給自己，可以發現自己能做的事情還有這麼多！」

(自由時報)

Resources:
Amy Ippoliti's  4 Tips for a Digital Detox
5 Reasons For Digital Detox

Top 10 habits that make you susceptible to sickness 致病十惡習 久坐久站最常犯

Happy New Year! 新年快樂！

A doctor poses with a patient wearing a neck brace after injuring her neck from looking down at her smartphone too often at a hospital in Greater Tainan on Dec. 25 last year.
去年十二月二十五日在台南一間醫院，一名醫師與一名因低頭看智慧型手機太頻繁導致頸部受損而戴頸圈的女子合照。

Photo: Meng Ching-tzu, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者孟慶慈

Being sedentary, not drinking enough water and staying up late at night are just a few of the 10 worst habits that can make you susceptible to falling ill. How many do you have? The results of the latest version of a national survey on people’s living habits show that 20-somethings in Taiwan have the worst living habits of all, including staying up late, being sedentary, eating foods with high caloric content, regularly keeping their heads down to look at electronic devices and using computer devices in bed before falling asleep.

Chen Liang-kung, director of the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, says that such poor living habits can increase one’s risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, neck and spine disorders and mental deterioration. Chen recommends changing bad habits while you are still young, like setting an alarm clock to remind you to stand up and move around for three to five minutes every hour, putting your cellphone far away during sleep, and limiting the amount of high-calorie foods you eat.

A health magazine published by cable news station TVBS conducted the survey by telephone in October, interviewing 1,092 people over the age of 15.

The survey found that the number one bad habit among Taiwanese is being sedentary and standing too long, with around 72 percent of respondents saying they have this problem. Drinking less than a liter of water every day came in at second (33 percent), followed by habitually putting one’s cellphone next to the pillow while sleeping (33 percent), not exercising (30 percent), often lowering one’s head to use an electronic device like a cellphone or tablet computer (30 percent), drinking at least one sugary drink every day (30 percent), frequently crossing one’s legs (30 percent), eating high calorie foods at least twice a week (25 percent), using a mobile device like a cellphone or tablet computer in bed before sleep (24 percent), and sleeping less than six hours every night (21 percent) respectively.

Getting inadequate sleep for an extended period of time affects the autonomic nervous system and can lead to high blood pressure, as well as increasing one’s risk of high stress and irregular heartbeat, Chen says. People who get less than six hours of sleep every night should try going to bed 15 minutes earlier and taking afternoon naps for 30 minutes.

To get rid of these bad habits which can lead to illness, Chen recommends taking a gradual approach to change. For example, people who do not exercise at all can try getting off the bus one or two stops earlier. People who drink sugary drinks every day can try taking half the amount of sugar instead of the full amount, and eventually no sugar. People who do not drink enough water should force themselves to drink 500cc of water right after waking up, and again in the morning and in the afternoon, he says.

(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)

十大致病壞習慣「久坐」、「不愛喝水」、「熬夜」，你有幾個呢？最新公佈的「國人生活習慣大調查」結果發現，台灣二十至二十九歲的年輕人，生活習慣最不好，包括「熬夜」、「久坐」、「吃高熱量食物」、「長期低頭用3C產品」，以及「睡前還在床上用電腦」等。

台北榮總高齡醫學中心主任陳亮恭指出，這些不良生活習慣，可能加速心血管疾病、代謝疾病、頸椎病變以及心智退化等，建議趁年輕改掉壞習慣，不妨設定鬧鐘、每小時站起來活動三到五分鐘；睡覺時將手機放遠；限定自己吃高熱量飲食頻率等。

這項調查由《健康兩點靈雜誌》於今年十月間、針對全台一千零九十二位、十五歲以上民眾進行電話訪問。

調查發現，國人最常見的生活惡習第一名就是「經常久坐或久站」，共有百分之七十二民眾有此問題；其次依序為：「每天喝水不足一千cc（百分之三十三）」、「睡覺時，習慣將手機放在枕頭旁邊（百分之三十三）」、「完全不運動（百分之三十）」、「常低頭使用手機或平板電腦等3C產品（百分之三十）」、「每天至少喝一杯以上含糖飲料（百分之三十）」、「經常翹腳（百分之三十）」、「每週有兩天以上吃高熱量食物（百分之二十五）」、「睡前躺在床上使用手機、平板電腦等3C產品（百分之二十四）」以及「每天睡覺都不足六小時（百分之二十一）」。

陳亮恭指出，長期睡眠不足不僅影響自律神經，還可能有相對高血糖問題，甚至因壓力大、心律不整等風險也高，睡眠不足六小時者不妨試著每天提早十五分鐘上床，午睡補眠半小時。

要遠離這些致病壞習慣，陳亮恭建議，可以採循序漸進的改變。例如，完全不運動的人可以試著提早一、兩站下公車；或每天喝含糖飲料的人，從全糖改成半糖，然後變成無糖；水分攝取不足的人應規定自己在起床、上午、下午時各喝五百cc水。

Resources:
Freedom From Resistance
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2580