“Two hours of television per day sucks a year of your life away.”
Those are the results of one of the big studies that came out when I was a kid to keep us youngsters outdoors and away from the TV.
It seems like we’ve thrown that advice out the window in recent years with the development of new technology. People seem to feel the constant need to be entertained by some piece of technology or another, from listening to music to playing games or mindlessly watching a video on YouTube as background noise while studying, which I am guilty of. The human race spends a lot less time outside than they did 10 plus years ago, and now thanks to this lovely global pandemic, computers and the internet are mandatory for everything we do.
On top of school work and jobs being switched to a virtual format, which puts us on our laptops for up to an extra four or more hours per day, there is still the desire to keep up with friends and family via social media, taking photos and googling questions that we should already know the answers to.
On top of this, playing video games and watching every single show that Netflix has to offer until the wee hours of the morning is becoming the new normal for many people.
This presents a problem, since constantly staring at a screen is linked to several negative effects, such as insomnia, eyestrain and increased anxiety and depression. In a report from June, 40% of adults in the United States reported an increase of mental health issues and depression, according to the CDC.
There are several things that we can do to break our addictions to screens. For example, moderating your time doing specific tasks on your electronic devices, having a set bedtime and reading a book or doing something with your hands for at least an hour before bed will help with insomnia.
Apple products have an option to limit your time on each app and send out an update every Sunday with the time average that you spent on your screen in the past week.
Just going outside and taking a walk will help boost your mood by a lot. Colder weather is coming our way, and many of us are suffering from cabin fever that will only get worse as the weather does.
This pandemic has taken a lot from us. Let’s take back a little bit of what we lost by regulating our screen time and actually doing something productive with our time.
