It’s all around you: whether it’s the T.V., radio, or your phone. It’s hard not to feel consumed and even overwhelmed by all of the information given to us today. After all, simply logging into your computer and opening up the internet will expose you to a barrage of news headlines. As remarkable as that can be, too much of it can start to become a bad thing. Everyone should dedicate time to tuning out and taking a break from it all. Here are some tips on how to do that.

1. Put your phone down

The first step in managing the stress of today’s constant influx of information is to take a break from your phone. It’s much easier said than done, of course, but constantly being on your phone can really cause your mind to race. Whether it’s news alerts being sent to you or the social media notifications that are constantly causing your phone to go off, it’s hard not to feel consumed with information. It’s important to know what’s going on in the world and stay engaged and connected, but only to a certain extent. After a while, staying too engaged can actually end up doing more harm than good. This leads to my next point.

2. Turn off the T.V. (especially the news)

As mentioned above, it’s good to know what’s going on in the world, but watching the news too much could actually be doing more harm than you’d think. With all of the bad things you hear about, it’s easy to feel like nothing good ever happens. The truth is, there’s plenty of positive and inspiring things happening out there. Why the news is so overwhelmingly negative is a question that is still up for debate. It may be because that causes more of a reaction in people and leads to more viewership. Whatever the case may be, hearing of one bad thing after another is sure to flood your mind and even increase feelings of anxiety and worry.

3. Go outside and experience nature

Sometimes the best cure when you’re feeling overwhelmed is to go outside and connect with nature. Get away from technology and the hustle and bustle of everyday life. This can help clear your mind and bring you back down to reality. Remember the good old days as a kid when, instead of playing video games or using an iPad, you’d actually go outside? Sadly, it’s coming to the point where kids these days aren’t used to that and can’t even appreciate it. Taking time to go outside and connect with nature, and yourself, could be just what you need to disconnect.

4. Read a book

With so much content available online, it’s become far less popular to actually read a book. For me personally, I have always found it to be a much different experience holding a book in my hands versus just downloading something and reading it off my phone. It takes me back to a much simpler time in life, and has always been a good stress reliever.

5. Limit social media use

This point cannot be encouraged more. I know it has been stated many times, but if you had to take just one thing away from this article, this is perhaps the single most important. A lot of the information we are receiving today comes to us through social media. Updates are constantly streaming in from Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Whether it’s a status update (or ten) from one of your friends, or your whole newsfeed flooded with the day’s biggest stories. Sometimes it can be hard to keep up with it all. If you’re not able to limit your social media time any more than you already do, consider unfollowing accounts that you aren’t necessarily interested in, and don’t feel bad about it. Don’t look at the quantity of friends or followers you have, instead look at the quality. Are these accounts you’re really interested in following, or do you just feel obligated to? Clearing out your friends list could be doing so much more than just that-it could also be clearing out your mind.

Living in today’s fast pace, technology driven world can lead to an overloaded brain and negative effects. These effects can be detrimental to not only your mental state, but also to your physical well-being. Disconnecting from it all may seem like an impossible task, but it’s actually much easier than you’d think. The tips listed above could be a good place to start.