Managing Screen Time

Screens are everywhere we look from school to scrolling endlessly before we go to bed. As teenagers, screens consume almost all of our days and most of us overlook how it can hurt our mental health.

What is Screen Time?

Screen time is the time a person spends looking at a device such as smartphones,

computers, video games, television, etc. We can use screens to look at almost anything that is happening in the world.

Many of us end up going down a rabbit hole for hours, or "doom scrolling" about something that won't impact our lives.

How Screens Impact Mental Health

An overconsumption of media and screen usage can increase our stress. When we are stressed, we have a higher chance of developing depression and anxiety, pairing with suicidal behavior. When we are stressed, it can also lead to blurry vision, headaches, behavior changes, and eye strains, all caused by our screens.

How Screens Affect Sleep

Before we go to bed, most of us are attached to our phones. Intense light, constant notifications and sounds, and not being able to put it down can disrupt our circadian rhythms, our natural sleep-wake cycle. This can prevent us from waking up in the morning for school or work, or lead to fatigue.

Tips on Managing Your Screen Time

Filter social media: To decrease stress and extra time on our phones, we can unfollow or mute accounts that we don't find pleasure in. If you don't want to unfollow someone, you can always mute them. Following and viewing content we actually like can decrease "doom scrolling" on topics that we do not care much about.

Turn off notifications: Notifications are the main reason we pick up our phones. When we get a notification, dopamine is released in our brains sending a happy signal that someone is talking to us or one of your friends posted on Instagram. By turning them off or limiting them to what we need, we can stop picking up our phone when we don't need to.

Resist looking at screens: When we are bored, distracted, or stressed it might be an automatic response to look at our screens. Stress, procrastination on an assignment, or boredom might worsen by looking at screens. Most of the time, it means we need a break from our screens and this can help us focus on a new hobby or activity.

Make a daily limit or a time to "tune in/out": On most phones, we can limit screen time in settings or by just turning on "do not disturb". This can free time to finish homework on time, start a new activity, or even go to bed early. We can also designate specific times to not look at our phones and force ourselves to focus on work or a hobby instead.

Find a new hobby instead of scrolling: If there is not enough time in your day to talk to a friend, workout, or even eat, you might be spending too much time on our screens. By limiting screen time, we can pause and pick up a book, listen to music, or talk to friends. The more we reduce our screen time, the better our mental health will be, and we can have more free time.