WHY YOU SHOULD LIMIT YOUR SCREEN TIME

As I sit here behind the screen writing up these blogs and providing you with quality information I would spend my days doing research, writing and delivering content that I believe would benefit lives in the health and fitness space.

I have a quality, reliable, evidence based approach to what I write and deliver to YOU. The cost of this is that I spend a lot of hours looking at a screen either researching or writing towards my audience.

I love it and will not stop however I do not want to be hypocritical when I say you should limit your screen time and access to blue light. We are living in the technological age which is all well and good until you hit a period of seeing that your screen time is rising...

Screen Time Effects

Decreased social connectedness

As you may know one of the biggest concerns for increased screen use is the decreased social connectedness.. Have you noticed when you are walking out in public the array of people that are waiting around, walking or even while with friends/family that are on their devices scrolling through social media, texting, calling etc. This creates a divide between the people you are with and the device. No one feels important if the people they are with would rather stare down at a phone rather than engage in conversation.

Not only this but it is believed people enjoy texting/calling/DM's rather than meeting up face to face where a physical connection should begin. This is leading to increases in virtual dating, virtual exercise, virtual lifestyles etc... As we continue to live our lives on our devices we are building profiles of ourselves in a virtual setting and social media is to me the main culprit.

Distraction From Habits

I know I talk a lot about habits and habit formation. I like to say the best way to create a new life is to habit stack. One of the hardest things to do is pull yourself away from bad or negative habits. I do this by creating an environment that makes it hard for me to engage in the habits that distract me from what I want to do.

One example of this is screen time. If you are the type to go on your device as a 'break' from work, life or anything that you may be doing day to day you may realise hours have gone by as you scroll through tiktok, instagram, facebook, youtube or even just doing google related searches.

This means less free time or time that you could be spending engaging in positive healthy habits that you believe 'you do not have time for'. If you are able to spend 5+ hours a day on your devices scrolling through socials I am certain that taking one hour off should afford you the chance to go for a walk, read a book or prepare a well balanced meal. However we associate time spent on positive habits as waste and time spent on socials as 'refreshing' this needs to stop.

The moment you associate a negative behaviour with positive words is the point you lose the battle.

Again I will reiterate... make it hard for yourself to do something that is negative and easy to do something that is positive.

Blue Light Stimulation

Another negative effect of screen use is its negative effect upon sleep. Did you know being on your device that emites blue light actually stimulates increased activity in your brain. Coupling this with dopamine increased activity like social media will engage your brain into being active and pull you out of that tired, ready for sleep state.

It is no wonder that the increase in technology has also seen an increase in poor sleep patterns and behaviours.

You can change this by again changing your environment...

Set up your room or bed as a no device area. Charge your phone away from your bed so it is hard to reach and access. This will allow you to rest and be in a mode of this place is the place I sleep.

What will happen is your brain and body will shut down a lot easier and you will be able to sleep faster, have increased REM time and you will wake up feeling more refreshed than ever before. Your goal here is to limite screen time or make sure the areas you would like to have decreased screen use make it difficult for you to access, and easier for you to access the habit you seek. If you want better sleep aim for that by making it hard to reach your screens.

Closing Thoughts

In summary, increased screen time has resulted in less positive habits and decreased social connectedness. We want to make it harder to get access to your screens while making it easier to achieve the habits you desire to attain.

It is much easier to gain a new healthy habit than it is to eliminate a negative one. Make a replacement and push towards getting outside without your devices as a number 1.