As I write this I can still feel the nausea, though it’s fading now, of a sudden bout of digital vertigo. It’s my first time experiencing it and a light bulb has gone off for me. This is what my son has been dealing with over the last few months. I hadn’t put the pieces of the puzzle together until now.
We are a really active, outdoorsy family. If you look on my Instagram page it’s filled with photos of us all at the beach, the park, trampolining or skating. We do an outdoor physical activity with our kids most days and especially on the weekends.
That said, my son loves his iPad and online gaming. Finding the balance with device usage is a challenge every day. The kids haggle for more screen time and my partner, Jackson, and I barter for less.
Recently Jonathan, my 8 year old, had been online for about an hour before I took him and his sister, Ella, 1, to the shopping centre for sushi and a Boost juice. It was school holidays and there were 2 virtual reality pods in the centre that the kids had tried out the weekend before and loved so when Jonathan asked to have another turn I had no problem with it.
The first time the kids had chosen a rollercoaster theme, so the pod moves up and down while the kids see themselves riding a rollercoaster through the VR glasses. The “ride’ went for about 5 minutes and Jonathan and his older sisters, Sophie and Joslyn (from Jackson’s previous relationship) had really enjoyed it.
This time Jonathan chose a ‘flying’ experience that went for 8 minutes.
When it was over, he was white as a sheet. He straight away told me he felt sick and needed to vomit. We made it home without that happening thankfully and he passed out on the couch for the next hour and a half.
My feeling at the time was that the nausea had been caused by a digital overload but put it solely down to the extra long VR experience.
He has since gone on the VR pods with his sisters, choosing one of the shorter experiences again and been fine.
It happened again to Jonathan this week. This time just from gaming!
All of a sudden he came rushing out of his room, pale and distraught complaining of a migraine and asking for medicine and to be taken straight to bed.
This time I thought it may be the onset of him experiencing migraines like the ones my mum and sister suffered with over the years.
Until it happened to me! Just now!
Of everyone in the family, apart from baby Ella obviously, I am on technology the least. Even so, this morning, as it was Saturday and Jackson was at work, Ella was happily playing in front of me on the rug and Jonathan was watching something on his iPad, I had time for a longer scroll through my social media feeds.
The feeds were a bit jumpy, not smooth, and as I scrolled, within minutes, I started to feel sick with a vertigo-like feeling. I had to put my phone down and just lie still for a time until the nausea passed.
I wondered if I was coming down with a bug but as the day wore on and I felt fine ,as long as I wasn’t on my phone, I ruled that out.
A quick body scan ( going within and “feeling” up and down the energy body for any blocks or spots where the energy is unaligned- I often imagine a green net being passed up and down, through my body. The net gets caught and stops where the energy is blocked) drew my attention to the fact that my third eye chakra was a bit more open than usual.
For the body to be balanced the energy between all the chakras needs to circulate smoothly through them. When we are on devices our energy is focused in our head, it can build up in that area and narrow in the lower chakras. As a Clairsentient Empath I am already really sensitive to vibrations and energy as it is. With my third eye being so open it was receiving too much stimulation while I was on my phone scrolling through a jaunty Fb feed without the support of the flow from the “feeling” chakras to balance it out.
My son is sensitive to energy as well, in the 2nd grade he developed a phobia of a boy in another class even though technically all the kid had done was taken Jonathan’s hat once and since that time had pretty much left him alone.
It turned out that the boy was from a really troubled home, one that has since led to him being placed in foster care. I believe Jonathan could feel his torment.
The chakras come in and out of balance often depending on what is going on energetically around us, within us, even planetarily.
As I write this we are in a Mercury Retrograde, always a really challenging time energetically, plus there’s a full moon.
The fact that digital vertigo is happening now means there’s been an energetic shift and I predict we will see it happening to more people more often.
Why does writing on the Mac, as I’m doing now, not cause the digital vertigo? I notice as I type I’m not really looking at the screen, I’m in my minds eye formulating the sentences.
Writing is moving thought energy out, not taking it in. That and the fact that there isn’t the flashing movement that goes with scrolling through feeds or gaming must make the difference.
That kids become hyperactive and wired after extended online time is common knowledge. All parents know that their child shouldn’t be on a device just before bedtime as it messes with their ability to sleep.
I’ve seen in my son how hyper he can be after being on his iPad or gaming and have had to, not only decrease his screen time but especially around bedtime.
Digital vertigo is now another side effect we will have to be aware of and take steps to stop it happening to our kids let alone ourselves.
How do you combat digital vertigo?
Apart from obviously putting your device down for a while?
All grounding techniques would help
* go outside into nature
* place crystals on the third eye chakra to buffer the inflow
* change into cool colours like blue or green
* lay down and centre the energy body through meditation
* have a nap if you feel really unwell.
(With all energy work you have to know your own body, nervous system, chakras and energy well enough to know when to go to the doctor for symptoms that aren’t clearing.)
Our children are the guinea pigs of the technological age, the first that are born into it.
There is so much we don’t yet know about the effects of constant digital stimulation on growing brains, bodies and energy systems. Without getting in the way of their development or enjoyment of technology, it’s never been more important for us to be conscious and plugged-in parents.
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