It’s important to learn how to reduce your screen time if you’re getting too much. Technology, especially screen time, gets a bad rap these days; but there are both cons and great pros to having our devices at our disposal. For one, it helps with productivity by automating repetitive tasks and the endless amount of information found at our fingertips. Your communication and collaboration skills show improvement, but at the same time, it is distracting and can block creative thinking.
The calendar says that some studies believe people possibly can’t fight technology addiction. It is not beneficial for your mental and physical health.
More research showed that in 2016, you spent 10 hours a day looking at a screen – a combination of hours between your computer, television and phone. A study showed people spend more than three hours on their phones only, and to add to that, you look at your phone almost 60 times a day.
A spike in screen time during the lockdown due to COVID-19 increased the above numbers. As much as there are pros to screen time, there are cons too – such as a disruption in your productivity.
Excessive screen time can harm your vision, impact your sleep, encourage a more inactive lifestyle and lead to more stress, anxiety and depression. The calendar suggests it’s because people constantly compare themselves to others on social media.
With everything that has been mentioned above, don’t you want to try to reduce your screen time and implement alternative strategies?
Taking Breaks and Stretching To Reduce Screen Time
When you work in front of a computer or laptop for several hours every day, do yourself a favour and take regular breaks or look away from your screen after 30 minutes. Setting the alarm may help you with this.
Stretching, standing or moving around at work is good to keep your muscles loose. Too much screen time can tense up your body.
There is such a thing as ‘chair yoga’. You can spend five minutes moving and practising the moves throughout the day, and maybe your colleagues will join you.
Monitor Screen Time and Create Restrictions
It is sometimes hard to admit that you spend too much time looking at your screen or screens. To prove yourself wrong (or right), why not set a task to track your screen time? There are tools on certain screens that can track your time in the background. You may even forget that you set it up in the first place and carry on with your daily routine.
The screen time tracker is found in your settings between an iPhone or Android. Once you have seen the results, you can see which apps are ‘hogging’ your attention and set time restrictions to spend less time on that app. There is also an option to tell your phone to switch off the distracting apps for a certain amount of time.
Leave Your Work At Work
It is a common problem to leave work and still think about it after leaving the office. It is great that you love your job, but you need time awake from work.
Try this – any work emails or communication surrounding work need to be on hold until you return to the office the next day. As much as you want to strive at work, constantly spending time looking at your screen after work regarding work issues, your screen time increases stress levels.
Find some time to put your work aside and focus on being present in the moment.
No Phones In The Bedroom To Reduce Screen Time
Your phone may be useful as an alarm clock, but perhaps it is time to get a proper alarm and let your phone relax in the next room. Usually, your phone is the light you see at night and the first light in the morning – even before your eyes have properly opened.
The blue light on your phone is harmful to your eyesight and plays a major role in disrupting your sleep pattern and quality. In the mornings, your phone can be a distraction when you want to get ready for work because scrolling makes you lay longer than you planned. Being late adds unnecessary stress to your day.
A solution may be to charge your phone in another room. By doing this, you can get done work first and steal some screen time at a later stage.
Find a Hobby
You may not remember this, but you had many things to occupy your time before technology became so advanced. Turning to scroll through Facebook or Instagram is a form of boredom. Pick up a book and read, go for a stroll on the beach, etc. – the options are endless.
Restricting your screen time doesn’t have to feel like an unhappy time. There are still many things for you to do and hobbies to pick up – for example, join an art class, play in a sports club or take up knitting. Whatever you choose, enjoy it as much as possible.
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