by WELLTRAX Fitness Intern Reilly Guhr
Confession: I spend WAY too much time staring at screens. Like almost everyone else in my generation, my life is saturated in media, and it’s all too easy to become addicted to it. Wherever I go, whatever I do, there’s some kind of screen vying for my attention. In school almost all of my work was completed and submitted online. All of my jobs are computer based. I communicate with long-distance friends using Google Hangouts and group texts. I relax with a laptop queued to Netflix. When I see something beautiful, I want to take a picture of it and share it on Instagram. I find creative inspiration on Pinterest. I pay bills, read books, learn new things, watch the news, and write my thoughts on a screen. Technology makes our lives easier and allows us to connect with people in a way that was impossible a few short years ago. Amazing as these screens are, they have a very negative effect on not only our society, but our bodies.
As a young adult, I am bombarded with criticism for my generation. On the very screens they condemn, people write about the way media takes away our ability to interact face-to-face with others, how it corrupts and brainwashes young minds, and leads to distracted drivers and fatal car accidents. That’s all true. But what they don’t talk about is the negative impact they have on our bodies. Dr. Jacque Dunegan is particularly interested this aspect, though. While a professor at UCF, she prohibited all technology in her class to combat cheating and distraction. Perhaps this strictly enforced rule benefitted her students even beyond the classroom?
I never realized how much screen time I get in a day until one afternoon last year I realized that I had stared at a screen for eight hours straight. It had been an intense midterm study session at school -- a good, productive activity -- but when I finally closed my laptop and got in the car to leave, I realized that I didn’t even take a lunch break away from the screen. My body was telling me to stop, but I still had hours and hours of mandatory screen time ahead of me if I wanted to do well on my exams. By test day I couldn’t even look at a screen without actually tearing up and my vision going blurry. I had awful headaches every waking moment. My neck ached from staring down at and hunching over a laptop for eight hours a day. Between school, work, and my social life, I spent little time away from a screen. Even removing all recreational use of technology was not enough to save me. It got to the point that I couldn’t read a book because my eyes wouldn’t focus. All of this, and I was only seventeen. Simply put, this is not a problem teens should be having. Yet it has become overwhelmingly prevalent in my generation.
Constant use of the technology that makes our lives easier also hurts us. It wears down our eyes and dulls our minds. It compromises cognitive function and structural integrity of the brain. Not to mention, every moment spent sitting at a screen is one less spent moving, exercising, and checking things off that to-do list of non computer-based chores.
Research in the last twelve years proves that we need to get up and walk every 45 minutes (totaling at least an hour a day) to strengthen the immune system, something that’s not happening when we’re glued to a computer all day. Drivers can be easily distracted by their phones as well, and texting behind the wheel has been the cause of many horrific car accidents. Screens (especially smart phones) also tend to keep us up at night, reducing sleep time and quality of rest -- which can affect every aspect of our lives. In adolescence, the mind and body are not yet fully developed, but heavy use of screens can impair them before they have completely matured. Scary, right? And this is becoming commonplace.
Unless some serious changes start to happen, my generation is going to grow up with bent over bodies that will wear out long before they should. For what? Instagram fame and a good grade? I’d rather have good eyes and posture and better sleep than anything a screen can provide. I’ll be the first to admit, it’s hard to tear myself away, especially when society considers excessive screen time not only cool but necessary. After all, it makes everything much more convenient, doesn’t it?
So what’s a teen to do when their body can’t take any more? Finding balance through wellness and lifestyle improvements is critical. Technology is such a huge part of society, and taking time to step back isn’t always convenient for our work, educational, and personal agendas. Difficult as it may be, looking away is imperative to living a healthy lifestyle. I’m coming to see this now (and sorely regretting those insane study marathons of my school career). I believe that health is more important than anything a computer can offer, and that’s why my generation -- myself included -- must take steps to prevent unnecessary damage to our minds and bodies. How about starting now? Look away, get up, and start living your life to the fullest.
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This article is based on personal experience and the experiences of close friends and mentors.
Also, these are two fascinating articles on the subject, if you’d like to dig a little deeper into the impact of screens on the health of teenagers.
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/09/keeping-an-eye-on-screen-time/
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