Digital Habits for Better Brain Health

This year’s Brain Awareness Week theme is small habits for improving brain health. When it comes to our digital world, small habits are the extent of how much we can do, as cutting ourselves off from the digital world is not a viable option for most of us. In this Brain Week-themed blog post, we are going to look at some good and bad digital habits for supporting cognitive well-being.

Getting Your Attention Under Control

Technology should not be overwhelming. However, in the last three decades, as smartphones and other digital products have become common items, technology sure does feel overwhelming at times. In addition to being overwhelming, it can even become stress- and anxiety-inducing and lead us to overexhibiting behaviors. Who among us has not, for example, avoided doing laundry to continue a little bit of mindless scrolling?

The first thing to get under control is our attention. The human brain is great at actively controlling focus, but even we can’t constantly switch focus from one thing to another. The notifications our phones send are the worst culprit, so become notification-critical and make your way to your phone’s settings to manage the different notifications your apps send. Do you really need those news alerts or the 2-for-1 deals from your food delivery app? If disabling them completely feels too much, you can consider turning them off when you have no active use for the app. You can also consider using your phone’s focus settings, which allow you to control which types of notifications get through, for example, during evening hours.

Once a notification ceasefire has been reached with your digital device, it’s time to start considering what use your digital device should actually have. Remember, devices should elevate our lives, not control them. Now, cutting something you’ve done cold turkey might be a bit of a drastic change, so consider, for example, short-term cutting; delete social media apps from your phone for a week. You can always install them again. I’m sure you’ll notice a difference as your digital device usage starts to drop. The crucial goal is to use technology intentionally.

Stopping things from stealing our attention is one thing, but how do we better maintain it? For this, we need to visit the concept of cognitive load, which simply means the amount of information our working memory can process at once. The human brain can store complex events and information, but we can usually only actively maintain a few things in our minds while processing them. We can’t, for example, usually maintain multiple numbers in our head while at the same time counting them together.

Digital devices offer a lot of customization options, and some of these can directly be used to reduce the cognitive overload of using them:

• Using larger text – A larger font size and larger user interface elements, such as buttons, make it easier to focus on the important content that is visible on your screen. Small, hard-to-read text requires more cognitive processing, pulling your focus away from other things.
• Simplified interfaces – Removing unused apps and disabling unnecessary notifications all contribute to a digital experience that leaves more attention available for the important things.
• Reduced color scheme – Did you know that you can put your phone in grayscale mode? This helps you focus on the content on the screen, making it so that colorful things don’t steal your attention.

You can try adopting all or some of these and see which ones help you keep your attention better. You’ll start to see results when you can, for example, take your phone out, accomplish a task, and not get stuck doing something else, like scrolling news feeds.

Digital Habits That Support Brain Well-being

So far, we’ve only talked about negative digital habits and combating them, but digital habits can also support our brain well-being. Things we can support and improve with good digital habits include:

• Memory
• Problem-solving
• Focus & attention
• Reading and comprehension

In some cases, just using digital products can already improve all of these aspects, as is the case when elderly people adopt mobile phone usage. In that case, the topics we discussed above become central so that we don’t overload the user but keep digital devices approachable and engaging.

When digital device usage is more habitual, it is important to focus on using digital devices to support areas that don’t necessarily receive support in our day-to-day lives. Games and learning tools are great for this. Solving puzzles can improve problem-solving, learning a new language every day can improve and sustain memory, and games requiring quick thinking can improve reaction time and attention.

How YetiCare Aims to Support Cognitive Well-being

Supporting brain health is one of the core principles behind YetiCare, as seen in Yetitablets and YetiApps.

YetiCare’s user interface is designed with different brains in mind, aiming to be accessible for everyone. Navigating between games and apps in the Yetitablets should always be easy, and the preselected content allows users to find the things they are looking for faster. We’ve also made the user interface of YetiCare simple, with large icons, visibility considerations, and the capability to customize selected parts of the user interface for even more support.

YetiApps are designed to support mobility, coordination, cognitive, and social skills—core parts of brain well-being. We’ve designed the touch-based games, for example, to encourage use of fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. This helps users with limited mobility to keep their motor-related brain areas healthy. Similarly YetiCare’s memory games and puzzles, allow users to keep their mental agility high and maintain an active brain.

Small Steps, Big Impact

Improving brain health doesn’t require drastic changes—small, intentional habits can make a big difference. Whether it’s managing digital distractions, reducing cognitive overload, or using technology to stimulate the mind, the key is to use digital devices in a way that supports your well-being rather than overwhelming it. So, what’s your brain-healthy habit? Join the conversation during Brain Awareness Week by sharing how you take care of your brain! Whether it’s limiting notifications, playing a memory game, or calling a friend, every small step counts.