Negative Impacts of Excessive Screen Time
Screens are an essential part of everyone’s life. So, it’s unreal to eliminate the usage of screens completely. But, you can definitely optimize your screen time to minimize its negative impacts. Unfortunately, people often engage with screens for much more than required. One of the reasons for this is that they think that screens are harmless. But, this is not the case. Too much of anything is harmful, and the same is the case with screen time.
Following are a few negative impacts of screen time:
Looking at a screen negatively impacts your mental and emotional health. It can lead you to inaction, anxiety and depression. It also makes you less sensitive toward others’ emotions and causes emotional numbness.
- Sleep problems
The light from the screen disturbs the secretion of melatonin, a hormone which is responsible for sleep. Watching mobile, laptop or television till late at night delays your sleep and makes you feel tired and restless. It also deprives you of all the benefits of good and sound sleep.
- Neck and Back pain
Continuous screen time can lead to bad posture, making your neck and back muscles Stiff and can cause neck and back pain. To avoid stiffness in your body, you should take breaks while working with the screen. During the breaks, you should do some physical activity like walking or stretching.
- Eyestrain
Looking at a screen for a long time causes eye fatigue which can further lead to double vision, headaches and concentration difficulties. Your eyes also get dry and irritated after a long screen time. In addition, digital devices release blue light that can lead to macular degeneration.
- Obesity
Sitting in front of the screen for too long makes you physically inactive and obese. On the other hand, if you have a habit of eating in front of the screen, you may often eat more than your requirement and become obese.
You should be aware and disciplined to limit your screen time and protect yourself from its negative impacts. A few suggestions to optimize your screen time are – avoid looking at the screen after an hour of waking up and before an hour of going to bed; keep your bedroom and dining space screen-free; keep your posture correct while working with the screen; do regular eye exercises; take a break of 1 minute after every 20 minutes and look away from the screen.
