You turn on your computer with a clear plan: today you are finally going to finish that important task. Ten minutes later you are scrolling through your inbox. Half an hour after that you are responding to a Teams message. And somewhere between the notifications and the “just a quick” meeting, your day disappears. You are not alone. And it is not your fault either.
In this blog post, you explore the anatomy of the overstimulated workplace brain, together with wellbeing expert Griet Deca (co-founder of Tryangle) and Pascal Herreweghe (project consultant at Involv Intranet). With concrete tips to do something about it.
Three problems that exhaust your screen brain
Before looking at solutions, it is useful to understand what is actually going wrong. Griet Deca identifies three problems that reinforce each other and together lead to an exhausted brain.
1. The communication channel jungle
Teams, email, WhatsApp, phone, chat, intranet. Every tool added to the digital workplace was once introduced with good intentions: better collaboration, faster switching. But by now, nobody knows which channel that one important message came through.
The result? Employees spend more time searching for information than processing it. An intranet can serve as an anchor point here: a central place that makes clear which tools the organisation uses and for what purpose, so employees no longer need to figure out on their own how to reach someone.
2. Infobesity
Griet Deca deliberately compares the phenomenon to classic obesity: we simply consume too much. In the past, you had to go and search for information yourself. Today, information comes looking for you. Continuously. And our brains are not evolutionarily built for that.
“Our brain does not know: is this important? Is this urgent? Should I pay attention to this? And so it reacts to everything. That is exhausting. Over time, it makes you ill.” – Griet Deca, Tryangle
3. Notifications as attention thieves
According to Griet, this is the biggest problem of the three. Every notification, even if you do not click on it, interrupts your focus. And recovering from such an interruption costs more energy than the interruption itself.
“You are in focus, you see something come in, you think: not important. But your focus is already gone. And getting back into concentration from that distraction costs enormous amounts of energy and time. And in the meantime, you have made mistakes.” – Griet Deca, Tryangle
By default, you are not in control of that flow.
Digital tools are programmed to hold your attention for as long as possible. That is their business model. Unless you actively change the settings, they are steering you, rather than the other way around.
What you can do yourself: 5 concrete tips
The good news: you do not need to wait for your organisation to get started. You can try these approaches already this week.
1. Do not start your day with your inbox
The “let me just quickly check what has come in” reflex is one of the most dangerous habits in today’s working day. Before you know it, four hours have passed, you have done nothing but put out fires, and your real priority is still untouched.
Griet Deca’s advice: reserve a focus block at the start of your day at least twice a week, before opening your inbox. Half an hour, an hour. Work on what truly matters first.
2. Schedule focus blocks and break blocks in your calendar
Add them explicitly to your calendar, so colleagues can see and respect them. A small but effective tip from Griet: do not label your break blocks “break”. That unconsciously invites people to claim that time with “a quick question”. Give them a name of their own. Griet names hers after her dog Pipa, the “Pipa moment”. Works perfectly.
Also apply the 80/20 rule: schedule only 80% of your time and keep 20% free, spread across the week. That buffer absorbs unexpected situations without throwing your entire calendar into disarray.
3. Configure your notifications deliberately
Every app you install is configured by default to maximise your attention. With every new device or new app, take the time to review the settings: which notifications genuinely help you, and which ones simply steal your attention?
Within Teams, WhatsApp and other tools, you can mute notifications per group or channel, limit them to specific hours, or turn them off entirely. Use those options. The same applies to your intranet: give employees the ability to decide for themselves which content they want to receive a notification for. The rarer a notification, the more weight it carries.
4. Measure your screen time, honestly
How many hours a day do you spend looking at your phone on average? Most people significantly underestimate this. Use Screen Time (Apple) or Digital Wellbeing (Android) to map the reality. Time and again, Griet finds in her workshops that the estimate is almost always lower than the actual figure.
“Measuring is knowing. Confront yourself with the facts. Do not rely solely on your gut feeling.” – Griet Deca, Tryangle
5. Make concrete communication agreements with your team
Which channel do you use for what? When is it acceptable to disturb someone? How do you handle messages outside working hours? These are not self-evident answers. That is precisely why they need to be discussed explicitly.
Griet gives the example of her own team: emails written outside working hours are scheduled to be sent the following working day at 8 a.m. That way, dedicated colleagues respect each other’s boundaries, without needing a conversation about it every time.
Take the test: Count how many channels and tools your team actively uses for internal communication. More than five? There is a good chance that information gets lost without anyone realising it, and that employees spend more time searching than working.
What the organisation can do
Individual habits help, but digital wellbeing is also an organisational responsibility. Griet distinguishes two levels.
At organisational level, the focus is on the broad communication framework: which tools are used for what, what are the expected response times and how does the organisation handle messages outside working hours? That framework gives employees the security to work with focus, without the feeling that they are missing something.
At team level, the focus is on the day-to-day operational details: how do you reach each other in urgent situations, how do you manage notifications, when do you expect a response? Those agreements belong at the level where collaboration actually takes place.
A communication charter does not need to be a dry policy document. Make it playful, concrete and recognisable for your team.
The role of the communications team
Communications professionals can play a key role as gatekeeper of the information flow. Not everyone needs to receive everything. Ask yourself with every communication: who really needs this, and through which channel? The segmentation options in an intranet support that: you send information directly to the right audience, rather than bombarding everyone with messages that are only partially relevant.
That requires a mandate from management. And that mandate starts with the conversation about it, preferably with the communications department as a strategic partner at the table, not as an executor after the fact.
Regular check-ins, digital too
A short pulse survey, two simple questions on a regular basis via the intranet, gives managers an early signal about how their team is doing. Not as a replacement for a real conversation, but as a reason to have one. Because that conversation, from person to person, remains the most valuable of all.
Take back control.
Your digital tools are made to help you. But if left unmanaged, they steer you rather than the other way around. Reset your settings. Make agreements. Plan your focus time. And every now and then, simply close your laptop.
“The most valuable connection remains the one between people, without a screen in between.” – Griet Deca, Tryangle
