The 10 Commandments to Deal with "Digital Noise"

Noise in all forms, whether due to honking, or loud music or people shouting all the time or televisions blaring throughout the day, affects our health adversely.

One form of noise that most of us are not even conscious of, has become such an integral part of our lives that it significantly affects our mental equilibrium, partly because we just handle it so badly. “Digital noise” includes the constant ping of notifications on all our devices, the bombardment of WhatsApp messages, the never-ending tweets and Facebook posts and scrolls, the shrill voices of the “breaking news” television anchors and the constant emails that just don’t seem to stop…add to this the doom scrolling and doom surfing that has ramped up in recent months and no wonder people feel mentally exhausted and spent at the end of the day with increasing bouts of anxiety and the feeling that time is just passing us by, leaving us unmoored and unanchored, without any control over what we do and how we spend our days, in our never-ending quest to keep up with all the stuff our devices throw at us, running to stay in the same place and never managing to get on top of things.

These 10 commandments may help you regain some sanity and control…and are aimed at those between the ages of 45 and 75. I don’t understand those younger than 30 and if you are between 30 and 45…I can only imagine what you are going through. If you are 75 and older, I know you can't do without WhatsApp, but please stop believing everything you read on social media.

Here are the commandments.