Dangers of excessive screen time

Screen time is the amount of time spent using a device with a screen such as a smartphone, computer, television, or a video game console. Screen time as a concept is under significant research with related issues regarding digital media use and mental health. A couple of years back, WHO released a guideline regarding screen time for children. It stated that children under the age of five must spend less time sitting and keeping their eyes fixed on screens. The pattern of overall 24-hour activity is key to good health of these kids. We have to replace prolonged sedentary screen time with more active lifestyle and make sure that children get enough good-quality sleep. Quality sedentary time spent in interactive non-screen-based activities with a caregiver, such as reading, storytelling, singing, and puzzles, are crucial for child development. Applying the recommendations in the above mentioned guidelines during the first five years of life will contribute to children's motor and cognitive development and lifelong health.

When this recommendation was first released, it caught the attention of the media. Although it made headlines, many did not pay much heed to the matter. The Covid-19 pandemic and consequent lock-downs have forced students to stay home. This unnatural confinement has left many using too much screen time. Before the pandemic, students were going to schools, playing and attending various programmes. They were spending less time on their smart devices. In conformity with studies in countries like the USA and UK, screen time outside of virtual school among teenagers doubled from pre-pandemic estimates of 3.8 hours per day to 7.7 hours. This is indeed alarming news. We are still to open the schools and other educational institutions completely; experts fear such screen time addiction will have long-term negative consequences. Besides youths, people who are in their 30s and in some cases even many elderly people are using too much screen time and are finding it difficult to find a balance between the virtual and the real world. For example, the more screen time you use outside your work, it is likely that you will find it difficult to manage time for other important things in life. Thus, it is evident that too much screen time is pushing us away from attending things that are more important and in turn making us less happy. Inadequate sleep, improper diet, not being punctual, or memory loss are some of the adverse effects of using too much screen time. Such disorders have deleterious impact on our economic situation as well. For example, we are not able to pay full attention to our work, which is causing our professional career to suffer. We are paying more prominence to what other have to say or doing, rather than trying to form an understanding of things from our own perspective.

According to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) website, our country's total number of internet subscribers is 112.713 million. Bangladesh has a population of 170 million. More than 70 per cent of our population is using smartphones. We rank among the top 10 countries globally with the most use of the internet. To make this writer's point clear, we have no complaints regarding the use of the internet. However, there are serious concerns regarding how internet time is used while using apps which are causing screen addiction. Researches carried out in different countries indicate that too much use of the internet and social media sites can negatively affect both adults and the youth. That leads us to the question: Are we using the screen time for more productive purposes? And does too many unwanted contents fills up our minds and prevent us from achieving our real-life goals? Based on most of the studies, the answer is probably yes. Simply because there are too many evidences that suggest excessive screen time has severely adverse effects on our physical and psychological wellbeing.

Professor Muhammed Zafar Iqbal a prominent author, physicist, academic while taking a class for newly admitted university students recently said that since 2013 he and his colleagues have noticed a sharp decline in attention span among students. He believes that students were more hooked on their mobile screens than actually concentrating on their studies. He went on to say, we see someone uploading a photo of mashed potato he had for dinner on Facebook and our instant reaction is to like or comment on that. And to keep up with other people on your Facebook friend list you start uploading photos of what you ate for dinner last night. The whole mechanism is design to capture your attention on things which are trivial. We are falling into the trap of not using our mind, for the sole purpose of getting a high from finding out who liked our photo.

Today we are witnessing increasing cases of cyber-bullying, sexual harassment, lack of privacy, tendency to cheat in exams, insomnia, etc. We become very frustrated if we do not have access to the internet or cannot find our smart phones. Many feel mentally down if they think they didn't have enough screen time.

Nowadays, we can see a rise in cyber-crimes. Many are abandoning family life and getting fixated on the never-ending rabbit hole of unnecessary content. Since we are using way too much screen time, our physical activities have reduced significantly.

Steve Jobs, back in 2010, while describing the iPad, said, “what this device does is extraordinary. This device is way more captivating than your regular browser.” Interestingly enough, sometimes later, during an interview with a journalist, he revealed how he and his wife limit the use of technology at their home. Based on different researches we now know we have lost about three hours of sleeping time in the last 30 odd years. Exposure to light, especially the blue light of smart devices, forces us to fight our biological sleeping clock. Due to lack of proper sleep, many people are suffering from hormonal imbalance.

According to Dr. Mohit Kamal, a well-known psychiatric and psychotherapist "Nearly 27 per cent of the population is aged 0 to 14, and they are the most venerable ones. They need continuous guidance and monitoring. Too much screen time takes away the motivation of a person. The cognitive development of such youth stops, and most of them can't produce anything new. It is reported that many parents who are having trouble with their children and their education are suffering from various types of psychological problems due to too much use of screen time. Teenagers are easily persuaded to do things that are not morally right in our society. For example, today, teenagers have easy access to adult sites. In the long run, those teenagers are not able to connect with their partners emotionally. Again, if you observe closely, you will see that those who use too much screen time do not want to attend social gatherings, simply because they are scared and become detached from real life. Too much screen time also leads to lack of interest towards studies and eventually, they don't do well academically.”

Experts say that playing too many games on the internet is harmful for the youth. They develop a sense of aggression that doesn't exist in the real world; they live in their own impractical world. There is a term called 'safe limit,' where experts advise parents to set up a time limit for screen time use for their children.

In our country, we do not have adequate research on the issue. We need more monitoring. Firstly, we can distinguish between different age groups. For example, Facebook has a policy that no one under the age of 15 can be a site member. The truth is people don't follow that. Now social media sites should not be blamed for this only. We need mass awareness on the part of schools, colleges, guardians, and teachers. There are many software out there that can stop children from accessing websites that parents don't want them to visit. One can easily use those. In China, there are some social apps to inform the users every one hour or so on how much screen time they already used that particular day. Some social media platforms in China automatically start showing educational material for children after a certain period of scrolling at their smart devices.

About 36 per cent of our population is between the ages of 20 to 29. They are more mature users, but they also need to limit their screen time. For school-going children, their parents can impose limited screen time use. On the other hand, many adult students can be informed by their teachers about the adverse effects of using too much screen time. In the workplace, the HR department can tell the employees how using too many or unnecessary social apps has a negative impact on the quality of work. ICT Ministry and Information Ministry, should find feasible solutions to counter this problem. They can request the experts to give them suggestions and guidelines and, consequently use those guidelines to create awareness among the people.

The writer is a journalist