By Tara Choe, Staff Writer
It is a useful tool for people to connect through social media, find out information or act as a source of entertainment.
However, there comes a certain amount of screen time that can reduce health benefits for every single person. The average amount for an adolescent should be two hours according to CNN News.
Now, people have been overusing the average amount of healthy screen time to six hours, which is a dangerous amount for a person’s mental health.
It only takes a second to put down that device and be one step closer to benefiting your life.
Here a few advantages for reducing screen time:
1.Better Sleep
With the light projecting to our eyes, it creates the function of staying up longer because your brain wants to focus on the screen. With the simple step of putting your electronic device down, the brain is able to relax and improve sleep patterns. It is essential that humans sleep an appropriate amount of time to function for the next day or else we feel more tired than usual.
2. Reduced Anxiety and Stress
Modern technology has put up social expectations that are too unrealistic for majority of the population. These anticipated media postings can cause a ton of stress from societal pressures to act and look a certain way. More time spent not looking at the Internet can really help a person reflect on their own life and allow them to concentrate more on what is affecting them than others.
3. Promotes social interaction
People spend too much time looking at a screen and don’t even realize that they are missing out on having conversations with those around them. Taking a minute to put down that phone and asking someone a question can start a connection. Social interaction is needed for humans because it’s how we express our emotions to one another.
4. Reduced eyestrain
Putting too much focus on a screen has made about 61% of the population wear glasses due to straining their eyes from technology according to CBS News. To help protect your eyes, you are less at risk for becoming near-sighted if you put down that phone.
There are other activities including reading, painting, exercising or any outdoor activity that can replace the unnecessary time on the phone or electronic device. It is important to keep your mental and physical health in check so it’s time to reduce those screens.
