87% of your health problems could be due to screen time

Health is just a surface problem, but it cuts way deep

Reading time: Approx. 10m 3s | Subject: Health and wellness

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A world without problems doesn’t exist. 

But the funny thing is, humans create their own problems–most of the time.

We are prone to problems in a way that if something’s happening at the North Pole, we’ll drag our butts to it all the way from the South. 

That’s how we are.

In ancient times, we used to dwell on problems like:

• Limited medical knowledge and healthcare

• Shorter life expectancy

• Frequent famines and food shortages

• Lack of sanitation and clean water

• Vulnerability to natural disasters

And the list goes on.

But now, as we have AI for different things to do, we create many sophisticated problems, and excessive screen time is one of them.

A study in Horta found that males with excessive screen time were 87% more likely to report poor health. Another report suggests a 7% decrease in participation in class for kids who are exposed to digital devices at an early age.

However, the dangers of high screen time are not only limited to health. If you don’t reduce your screen time, it can affect other areas of your life.

The dangers of not reducing screen time

The science has many fragments that identify the fact that excessive screen time isn’t good for anyone. We are in a highly digital world, so it’s not possible to avoid screen time altogether. 

But on top of our work, the screen staring we do till midnight or, for some, it’s past 02:00 am, is like eating sugar without restraint. 

We are taking the sweet poison, and it starts with our health, and in health, it starts with our sleep. Throughout history, sleep has had a bad reputation. Till now, many people think sleeping is just a waste of time. 

But it’s not like people don’t like to sleep; instead, they choose their digital devices, mostly their phones, rather than sleeping.

The time we need to give to our sleep, we hand it over to our little gadget. 

When we do not get our full sleep, we will feel sleepy during the day, and when we feel sleepy, we:

• Cannot focus

• Take time to work on something

• Drink caffeine all-day

• Make wrong decisions

• Feel pain in the body

In addition, excessive use of digital devices causes thinning of the cerebral cortex, which is the brain's outermost layer responsible for processing memory and cognitive functions like decision-making and problem-solving.

And that’s not it; if you do not decrease screen time, you’re decreasing the grey matter volume, the essential brain tissue for daily human functioning. 

It’s also responsible for everything from movement to memory to emotions.

You’re losing your movement, your memory, and your emotions. This leads to a person with their mind not with them.

When your mind isn’t with you, you are not with yourself. And a person who’s not with himself cannot do a job properly–leading to a career full of problems. 

A career with problems invites problems in a relationship, and because most people are getting less sleep and excessive screen time, you cannot expect a good apprenticeship from your partner.

The problems will be from both sides. 

You’ll be facing a painful life in which you go through painful emotions. And to numb those emotions, you might choose the wrong path. 

The path of alcoholism, drug intake, or even gambling. 

Now, with all of these, what can you expect? A life that sucks, and it all started due to the excessive screen time.

The little screen behind all of your problems.

Why the common ways to limit screen time don’t work

People with excessive screen time, after reading all of these dangers, will go and try the common ways to reduce their screen time. For instance, they will try:

• Monitor usage

• Set limits

• Turn off notifications

• Go grayscale

And think they have finally won the battle against the cunning enemy who looks like a friend. But, to their surprise, it won’t work. 

Okay, to be honest and fair, these common ways work, but only for a day or two, or maximum, in some rare cases, for a week. However, past this timeline, the clown is back again, and this time with more strength.

These common ways are good for people who are not so active with their digital devices. 

But for people with more than 9 hours of screen time, it’s like treating a wound with a bandaid.

On top of that, we are humans. 

A species full of emotions with the habit of attaching ourselves to things we do over time. 

So, if you used to write on paper, it would be harder for you to switch to digital. Somewhere, we build an emotional attachment—a love for things and how we prefer them.

The same goes for screen time as well. We create an emotional attachment to it. 

Emotional attachments are hard to break if they are built after many years. It’s just like being in a relationship we don’t want to anymore but don’t know how to break off.

Nevertheless, emotional attachment isn’t the only reason why it’s harder to reduce screen time. 

Our life outside the home matters, too. 

Furthermore, our little device has now created a “bad bed effect” as well.

Earlier, people only had T.V. as a digital device, which was mostly placed in the living or drawing area. Once done with the T.V., one had to go to their room. 

Sometimes, they could spend the whole night watching their favourite show or movie, but it was not a regular thing. Nobody would prefer to sleep on an uncomfortable couch every day when they have a cushy bed.

But smartphones came to bedrooms, and now, we can scroll while being comfortable. 

With comfort, we got an abundance of content, too. We can now access endless movies, shows, and other content on social media as well. 

We switch from one platform to another once we get bored, and by the time our brain has exhausted completely, we only have a little time to doze off. Humanity has progressed so much, but some progresses are enemies in the face of a friend. 

What makes this whole scenario even worse is our social circle being low. 

If you don’t have a life outside, you build one inside. And it’s not about being introverted, but it’s about being comfortable by being lazy. There’s nothing wrong with having a small social circle; quality matters over quantity. 

However, if you’re relying solely on your smartphone for your well-being, then it’s terrible.

Finally, what else creates hindrances when it comes to restricting screen time is our belief that it can be done in days or weeks.

But, just like building a good, physically shaped body takes time, it takes time to reduce screen time as well. Not just days, weeks, or even a month, but a handful of three months at least.

And here, everything goes all astray.

We don’t have this mindset, and we forget that we are in a training program to use our phones or digital devices less. 

We might have control over its uses, but slowly, we fall into the same pattern again.

So, why do the common ways to reduce screen time fail? Because:

• We build an emotional attachment

• We don’t have a life outside

• The bad bed effect

• Not realising that building and breaking both take time

But it’s not a resource that has been lost, but a habit we can cure.

By following the practices below, you can effectively reduce screen time. You don’t have to rush, but you have to flush.

Let’s see how to decrease screen time. 

Note: Do this only if you are serious about your well-being and want to improve your life a bit.

How you can achieve less screen time–effectively, not quickly

Before you start, here’s the warning 👇

There’s no magical pill or any shortcuts. You need to put 100% effort into it without expecting anything easy.

If you think you can do it, then the path is in front of you.