In today’s era, much of our entertainment is found through screens. It’s extremely common for people to spend their free time looking at a screen of some sort; whether that be a phone, laptop, tablet, or computer.Â
I am an excellent example of someone who has spent most of their free time on screens in the past. As soon as I wasn’t sitting in class or socializing, I’d feel a strong urge to utilize my screens. When I returned to my dorm, I usually would open TikTok and begin to scroll before completing a more productive task. Even though I desired to carry out my hobbies (like reading a book or writing), the temptation of using screens often won. I continued to seek out the quick dopamine given by social media or binge watching a show.
how it affected my hobbies
The main downside I found (caused by my excessive social media use) was no longer having the time to do what I enjoyed. The addictiveness of social media and scrolling would suck me in, and I would forget about everything else I enjoyed off screen. Even if I wanted to do another task, such as my homework or exercising, I felt controlled by the screens around me. Oftentimes, I would lie in bed for hours upon hours without realizing how much time had passed or how many hobbies I had missed out on. I also had similar problems pertaining to being on screens in general. Even if I wasn’t scrolling on social media, I would get carried away by the sheer amount of activities that I could do on a screen. This caused me to disregard my off-screen hobbies. By the end of each day, I would feel intense guilt over what I could’ve accomplished instead.
How Too Much Screen Time Affected MY mental health
Despite the screen time being entertaining, it was not beneficial to me. I dealt with negative side effects from looking at screens in general, but looking at social media caused the most unhealthy consequences for me.
While the addictiveness of social media was the main downside, it absolutely was not the only one. I frequently felt harm to my mental health caused by using social media. I experienced depression at times throughout my life, and I felt that social media had sometimes worsened it. The worsened feelings of depression were a result from the negativity that social media is filled with. Numerous posts include either disastrous events that have occurred in our world lately or general pessimism. With anxiety and depression already causing my spirits to be low, this negativity from social media definitely did not help. Plus, I felt more symptoms of depression from comparing myself to others.
Social media’s allowance for you to look through millions of other people’s profiles made it extremely difficult for me to not compare myself. I also had a tendency to feel negatively about my social life and my accomplishments compared to what I saw in others’ posts. In addition, I felt that these platforms had worsened my anxiety. Spending so much time scrolling instead of going out and experiencing the world increased my anxiety when I did try to experience things in real life. The comparison I did on these apps also caused insecurity over my appearance.
Finally, I still was experiencing troubles from spending time on screens, even if I wasn’t using them to scroll social media. The main issue I noticed with general time on screens involved the fact that I would get more headaches the more I was looking at a screen. Considering all the negative physical and mental symptoms I had from screens, and the lack of benefits I had from them, I decided that it was time for a change.
How I Reduced My Screen Time
I decided that in order to become more healthy, I would need to reduce my screen time. I thought that cutting down on it was a good compromise between using it in excess and not using it at all. Since there were still parts of being online that I enjoyed, I thought it was unnecessary to never allow myself to use screens.
I started by setting strict time limits for social media apps through the settings app on my phone. In addition, when I did use social media, I tried to use it more mindfully. I worked on spending more time talking to my friends on these apps or looking at educational content rather than simply scrolling from video to video. I’ve also been setting limits to spend no more than four hours for any personal screen time. This meant that I could only spend time on screens for entertainment four hours a day, no matter if it was gaming, watching TV, or social media.
It can be difficult to resist the urge to turn these limits off. However, when I remember how much my happiness has increased with these limits, I quickly change my mind and keep the limits the way they are.
How Reducing My Screen Time Has Helped
Since having these limits, I have been much better about carrying out my off-screen hobbies. I’ve been getting to go outdoors more, which is one of my favorite activities. I also have been more social in real life after cutting down my screen time, which I have enjoyed significantly.
Overall, setting limits for social media and screens made me feel no longer controlled by technology, and it greatly increased my productivity and boosted my mood. If you find yourself addicted to social media or screens, I would recommend that you try setting time limits as well.