Being in the field of mental health, I usually come across some really good facts about our functioning. I was surprised to know that it’s considered healthy if we are spending less than 2 hours on screens every day. I fell on my knees when I checked my screen time on my phone, which was around 5 hours on an average each day of the week. I got curious about this issue and dove into the subject of how we are spoiling our psyche by indulging in devices that “fry” our brain.
The screen is not serene
Let’s start off by analyzing our dearly beloved social media usage, which adds to our anxieties, feelings of envy, and loneliness. We compare ourselves with others’ “show-offs” and make ourselves feel low and dejected by assuming that we are having a bad time on the planet compared to others who are looking fine and shiny. Social media, along with breaking news notifications consisting of terror and deaths, adds to our stress and fear. A world that is already prone to anxiety after the Covid wave and unhealthy lifestyles gets a garnishing of daily negative news, which simply adds more panic and heightened heartbeats.
Moreover, during dark hours, the light emitting from the screens of our phones, tabs, and laptops stimulates our minds and interferes with the quality of our sleep and rest. Studies suggest that it’s mainly the blue light that keeps stimulating our brain into believing that it’s still not the right time to sleep. And poor sleep is directly related to bad mental health.
Moving on, with the emergence of short video content, it has led us to have a small attention span and made it difficult to focus, thus hampering our productivity and learning. Furthermore, our novice, innocent young kids get hold of phones that don’t even fit their hands, but they are hungry to consume and scroll through the short video content, which destroys their emotional and social growth. The kids are forgetting what it means to be truly social and how to merge with others through talks and gestures. Screen time is really a miscreant of our era and should be controlled.
Things can change
Boundaries need to be set. A fixed time and space for scrolling the device needs to be decided by the users. Some apps, like Instagram, have introduced the option of deciding the time of usage. Digital detox or breaks from devices can be scheduled over vacations or weekends. And most importantly, don’t use the phone within 1 hour of sleeping.
Also, face-to-face interaction should be prioritized over texting or calls. Screens are relatively very new to humans, and I strongly feel that we will get used to them in the coming years. Technology is backing us and giving us comfort in many ways, so let us ‘back the tech’ and not get our minds weakened by it.
