Why You Should Limit Your Screen Time
Screens are everywhere now, but did you know that they’re not so good for you?
Bad Effects Of Daily High Screen Time:
Increasing amounts of screen time can have many negative effects on your health, both physically and mentally. People who have an average daily screen time of 3 hours or more are likely to see some negative effects. Here are some of the negative effects you may experience due to high levels of screen time.
Kids who watch TV or stare at a screen for more than 2 hours per day are likely to have behavior problems, such as emotional, social, and attention problems.
Looking at a screen before bed can interfere with your sleep cycle and lead to insomnia. The blue light radiated off electronics causes you to, on average, take at least 30 minutes to fall asleep after staring at a screen before bedtime.
Increasing levels of screen time can also lead to having less energy and bad posture which can lead to having neck, shoulder, and back pain. If your body stays hunched over for a long period of time, you’re training your body to get used to this position, causing bad posture.
Too much screen time can also lead to eye strain, blurred vision, headaches, and bad mental health.
Damage of nerves in fingers is another effect of high levels of screen time. Nerve injuries most likely happen due to repetitive straining. This can lead to pain, weakness, clumsiness, and more.
The attention span tends to decrease in people who play video games or watch videos online for long periods of time. People tend to become increasingly impatient, the more screen time they receive.
Ways To Limit Your Screen Time:
There are a lot of ways you could lower your daily screen time. Especially in this time, students have to do a lot of schoolwork to do on iPads. It may be helpful to limit screen time in other aspects of your life when it’s not needed.
One way is to try to not use electronics during car rides or eating. Look out the window and enjoy the view, enjoy your food, and enjoy life. You should also try putting a daily limit on screen time in the settings of your electronic. Try to stay off electronics for the first and last hour of your day. You can also set your phone on “do not disturb,” in the settings, to prevent you from picking up your phone so much due to notifications.
Doing hobbies is a great way to keep you busy in your free time, instead of using your free time for electronics. Our other article on hobbies or activities provides some great alternatives.
Hangout with your siblings or talk to a parent/an adult you trust. Spend time with your loved ones. This can improve your social skills while lowering your screen time.
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April is in her sophomore year of High School. She plans on contributing to Life & Arts and Advice.
Aimee is a Freshman at Sweet Home High School. She plans on writing for the Advice Section.
Something to reduce eye strain and headaches due to screen time is to wear blue-light glasses. They are like sunglasses but for a screen. I use them when I’m at home and I think that they really help. Using blue-light glasses also helps to “stock” up melatonin in your body so that you sleep better. Just a thought.