More than ever, we are reaching for our phones while we eat, before bed, and everything in between. Guess what, it’s not your fault! The willpower you think that you have to control the scroll is being combated by millions spent by companies so that you won’t close the apps. The engineering of these apps has created the ability to turn FOMO (fear of missing out) into a phenomenon where you feel left out when you’re not being constantly updated or entertained. The bursts of dopamine we get from scrolling through videos are scientifically proven to relieve stress, even if only for a moment, which your body can easily become addicted to.Â
It’s no surprise that so many college students have screen time reports reaching 8 to 10 hours per day. Despite all of the healthy habits we try to implement, the screen time creeps in, especially when it takes only seconds to get online. Through the COVID pandemic especially, screen time was inevitable for the age group of “zoomers”, who were literally renamed as a generation to emphasize our dependence on screens. Our generation is also unique in the way that we didn’t always have access to screens. Gen Z is the first generation to begin our lives in a world without an iPhone (if you were born prior to 2007), and that makes a huge difference considering the fact that some kids today are literally raised by an iPad. In the past few years, many Gen Zers have rebelled against their phones and rallied to bring back nostalgia and a quieter life. This movement to ditch smartphones and reinstate a less overwhelming lifestyle with flip phones has been described in a CBS News Interview, “After two weeks of digital detachment, 91% of participants saw improvement in their well-being. Researchers said time offline was spent socializing, exercising, or going outside.” When we are allowed to focus on one activity at a time, the days will feel much longer and more emotionally fulfilling.Â
I can remember a time in elementary and middle school where all of my free time was spent with imaginary worlds inside of books. The Scholastic Book Fair was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I raced to get home so that I could devour half of my new Dork Diaries book in one day. As the changes of high school crept in, the ability to read for long periods of time and sit down with a book slowly felt more and more obsolete. While reading was still one of my favorite hobbies, it started to feel more daunting and more like a chore rather than a relief. As social connections have naturally become more of a priority for us as college students, our emphasis on online presence has caused our attention spans to shorten to about 10-15 minutes of focus in a lecture setting, and around 8 seconds for one single video before we feel the need to scroll again. College students are noticing this impact especially, as the task of reading long passages has become less and less appealing; you might even be getting distracted while you read this article. Unfortunately, even the best readers aren’t safe from this statistic, and critical thinking is also in danger.Â
One of the most important soft skills we can develop from reading and exploration of empathy is our ability to make decisions, and more obviously, to be well-read. While the loft goal of reading Moby Dick in one night is not realistic for everybody, we can certainly direct our awareness to how much screen-time we are consuming, and look at a few steps on how to approach this. Whether you’ve been meaning to get back into reading or are just now inspired, the best choice I’ve made is to listen to Podcasts. If you like to multitask like me, these are a great way to focus on learning something new, while still being hands-free. If you’d like to dive into this topic in particular, try this quick NPR listen, or try RadioLab’s podcast, where they pick something random and interesting to explore each week. Another suggestion I have is setting app time limits on your phone, or utilizing apps like Opal or Forest, which block apps on your phone for a set amount of time, and give you rewards for meeting your goals. Hopefully, a few of these tools will provide you with some more time to pick up a book once and a while, or just get some relief and get back into setting goals you can be proud of!