With the advent of various apps, data being freely available and internet charges being affordable there is too much happening on the web leading to information overload. That it causes stress is no surprise. What is surprising is that most of those who are stressed by information overload aren’t doing anything about it, thus getting deeper into the whirlpool of information.

Clearly, information overload is an avoidable stress. Where does it come from? Of course, there are multiple sources.

If you are an office goer, do you have the time to be seen in Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram etc.? In addition, there are office emails, personal emails, Whatsapp, SMS etc. to attend. Unable to go through these daily causes stress. Eventually it leaves you with little time to do the work you are employed for as well as developing yourself. It is a case of biting more than one can chew.

Overindulgence in social media platforms to seek non-work-related information or be seen in social media platforms can cause a dip in productivity at work in addition to a stressful life.

Worse, not having these also causes stress as you think you are missing out on something. So, what do you do? You choose something wisely that will be beneficial for your growth. And exit if you think it is not being beneficial. After all, Einstein wrote his Theory of Relativity without these and became rich, famous and more.

Social media related stress is something new. It wasn’t there until even 2012. It has slowly seeped into our lives since then.

A recent report by Canada based OpenText involving 27,000 global respondents from 12 countries has revealed that 88% of Indians feel that there is constant 24/7 information flow through social media or apps that is causing an increase in their stress levels. The other countries in the survey were US, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Brazil, and Japan.

So, when a few employees approached me around 2016 complaining of stress due to pressures of social media, I was just coming out of it and so was in some position to advise them.

The advice that I gave them then was something similar to what I know about resilience now. Although the art and science of resilience has been since long, I had almost no exposure to it.

Being resilient is not about progressing when hit only by major challenges, but also growing during good times when challenges are minor and manageable.

My advice worked then and so I feel that being resilient is key to manage the pressure due to social media, personal minor and major setbacks (challenges), and life in general.

Resilience is forging ahead despite crisis or challenges. It is about ability to overcome day to day pressures. Being resilient is not about progressing when hit only by major challenges, but also growing during good times when challenges are minor and manageable.

Some people are inherently resilient, that is, they can naturally deal with difficult situations with ease; but it is important to know that resilience can be learnt. When I was advising some of the employees in 2016, the employees were learning some of the skills of resilience that I was imparting not myself clearly knowing that those were skills required to be resilient.

Some of the skills required to be resilient are: to have clear goals, be focused, be persistent, prioritize, spread positivity, be proactive, stay motivated, be realistically optimist, self-awareness, mindfulness, to be able to speak up, emotion regulation, planning, adaption, introspection, connections, communication skills, social skills, language skills, time management, sleep, exercise, nutrition etc.

Although it was an informal chat with the employees, I now realize that I was imparting some of the resilience skills as mentioned above. In addition, usage of positive words is important as they are encouraging and have power to influence.

Is resilience then an area that an OH physician should explore to lead in companies they work? This is because for those employees experiencing work-related stress, being resilient will not only help them manage stress but will additionally equip them with skills useful in forging ahead in their career in spite of being faced with difficult times in their lives.

Resilience will also make the employees progress during good times. Resilience will make employees realize what is important for them to progress and to exit from social media platforms that aren’t beneficial to them, as they are stressing them by taking away their precious time. Resilience provides the skill to stay focused thereby improving their productivity.

Resilience is about being proactive, it is about planning, and it is about how to prioritize. Resilience is a tool that mitigates the stress and hence protects against any mental distress that an individual may experience in adverse situations.

To manage stress of daily life, including that due to social media, being resilient seems like an option and the OH physician should highlight its usefulness to the management in the companies where they work.

The topic of resilience should be introduced to every employee. Resilient employees make resilient corporations so that change or any other challenge that is sometimes inevitable on corporations do not damage individuals or the corporation.

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Dr Ajay Sati is an Occupational Health physician who prefers to describe himself as an Occupationist, to denote, ‘an expert in diseases and other concerns of occupations’. Dr Sati has managed health and wellness programs in industries he worked, like the atomic energy, and energy (oil & gas) in India and overseas. He was involved in many greenfield and brownfield projects providing inputs from health point of view. Known for SOPs and protocols, he is currently involved with an energy MNC in designing protocols to support employees during the covid pandemic, and protocols to safely reopen offices and plants.