Screen Addiction — What to do?
One of the most common questions when we talk about productivity — What is your screen time?
I will not be surprised if your answer is 10+ hours. The average screen time for teens is reported to be around 8 hours. I know many people for whom the answer is 12 or sometimes even 15.
We are so stuck with gadgets and technologies around us, it is next to impossible to eliminate the screen usage.
Many-a- times, we don’t even know we are using screens or rather, we don’t include some activities in screen time.
If I try to make a list of things that results in screen time-
- Television
- Laptop
- Cell Phones
- Smart Watch
- Virtual Reality Headsets
and, the list will continue. It is evident with the technologies growing so fast, there will be more screens in the near future. Smart glasses are going to be the next big thing.
Nowadays, even for meditation we use applications installed on our phones. Smartwatches have eased our lives with the notifications and stuff on our wrist, but simultaneously, they have increased the frequency of checking our screens. We are having kindles now to read books, again an addition to screen time. However, here the screen radiation is much less harmful
For most of us, the day starts with looking for notifications on our phones and ends with setting up an alarm just before sleeping.
In my personal opinion, we have to start reducing the phone’s time as we wake up. Try to start the day with the things you want to do but do not have the time for them later in the day. As per the data, only 1 in 8 people maintain a daily journal. While it is not a necessary thing to do, we should keep our thoughts somewhere, weekly, if not daily.
Meditate. Read newspapers, magazines, if not books.
In a nutshell, start your day such that you feel you have accomplished something, before you are going to start your professional or academic work, which unfortunately have to be done in front of the screen now.
As I said, there is no such way to completely avoid screen time, but there are several ways in which we can minimise it. Here are some of the tricks that worked for me:
- Check out the timings for your apps on the phone and apply timers to each one of them. The timer should be mapped in a realistic way. For example- If you are a social media influencer, or a content creator, you can’t keep timer for instagram for 10 minutes. It will hamper your work.
- Keep your phone far away from your bed before going to bed. If possible, in another room. It will increase your chances to start your day with the things you want.
- No screen, at least your phones an hour prior to sleep. Try to recall all the things you have done in the day instead
- Follow the 20–20–20 rule while working. After every 20 mins of work, try to look 20m away from where you are for 20 seconds. It will relax your mind and also, reduces the stress on your eyes.
The above points which I mentioned are so simple, yet very hard to implement. I am still not able to do it consistently and have failed on days. But, we have to start somewhere and someday, then why not today. If you fail, try to start again plus this time, you will have some experience.
And , if you are using your phone’s screen more than any other gadgets, trust me you are addicted to social media rather than the screen. Social media is a very useful tool if used wisely, otherwise, more often than not we tend to start living another person’s life which is absolutely disgusting. It’s better to realise as soon as possible and try out ways to fix it.
As we try out the above methods, we can see a very optimistic change in our thought process, our efficiency and overall productivity. You feel a sense of belief in yourself.
As Ginny in Harry Potter said,” The thing about growing up is that you sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”