The tech revolution has provided a lot of positives. It’s allowed us to streamline mundane tasks, video chat with clients around the world and watch a playoff game while riding in the back of a car that’s driving itself. But there’s a price to be paid for having everything available to us, everywhere, all at once. Overwhelm. Depression. Shortened attention spans. And most pertinent for us, financial fear.

Our algorithms are incredibly adept at knowing what we want to consume so we can be fed a steady diet of it. This would be fine if it was for our benefit, but unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Our dopamine is being supplied by our devices. In essence, we’re being hacked.

Our news and social feeds are alarmist by design. The scarier the headline, the more likely we are to click on it (consider how many times you have read the word “tariffs” in the last two months). The more controversial the topic, the longer we engage with it. We come for the cooking video but stay for the controversy.

Even things as innocuous as finance apps can have unintended consequences. Clients appreciate real-time market updates but become obsessed with checking their portfolios. In a recent online conversation, one Reddit user posted, “If the market is having a really good day I check 50 times a day, if the market is having a really bad day I check 50 times a day.”

Additionally, there are other loud voices competing for our clients’ attention. The dependence on devices has exposed our clients to these voices more than ever before. Many of these “experts” try to convince our clients that they can do for themselves what we should be doing for them, while creating unrealistic expectations. “Subscribe to my channel, read my book, join my Discord and you too can drive a Lambo.”

So how do we help clients manage their fears and ignore the noise that’s being amplified today more than ever before?

Our role is not to be an authority figure, suggesting they limit screen time and monitor what they consume. Nor should we be their “money psychiatrist.”

However, we do have a dual fiduciary duty to protect both our clients’ financial and mental wellbeing. We need to be more engaged and proactive with our clients given that their money anxieties have been amplified.

Proactive solutions include:

• Creating a client communication strategy to offset the increased financial markets volatility.

• Providing the client with a narrative that balances out the "the sky is falling” headlines. Giving a historical perspective on the current volatility helps reduce anxiety.

• Recommending books and articles to educate clients on what our screen reliance is doing to our minds, bodies and spirits. We suggest you start with Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter and The Anxious Generation by Jonathon Haidt.

• Suggesting behaviors that reduce stress, like turning off news alerts; checking stocks only once a day after the market closes, or even better, once a week; and turning off the phone 90 minutes before bedtime and delay looking at it for as long as you can when you wake up in the morning.

• Reclaiming and reaffirming your expert status. Being their go-to source for reason, expertise and calm.