There are both up and downsides to spending time in front of a screen. However, characterizing those is not as straightforward as it might seem, especially as there are a lot of myths regarding one’s health impact from screen time.

 

Digital media can facilitate communication and interaction with others in situation where human interaction can be difficult. This can beneficial mental health of individuals. [1]

The Internet is also the biggest resource with an enormous amount of information that can be looked up at the click of a button. There are also lots of classes and training that can help to educate readers/viewers about various activities, whenever and wherever they like. [2]

 

There are a near infinite amount of ways in which one can use the internet – and that makes classifying screen time as positive or negative very difficult; a task that gets a lot harder once all the different types of screen get considered: smartwatches, smartphones, laptops, TV screens, appliance displays etc. So its not about how long one spends in front of a screen, but how one uses that time. [3]

 

Some of the drawbacks are physical, like possible shortsightedness developing in young people or eye strain with older, fully-grown individuals [4], or lack of physical activity due to excessive time spent using social media, or problem with enough and regular sleep due to blue-light emitting devices used at or near bedtime. This can lead to concentration problems or, even worse, lack of REM [3] (the deep sleep in which the brain is probably process, learn and store long-term memory [5]).

There are also numerous mental health drawbacks like psychological, social, school and/or work difficulties in one’s life. The extended use of the Internet may lead to problems such as depression, OCD, bad family relationships and anxiety. [6]

 

Overall, like with everything, there are both benefits and drawbacks and for some, one might outweigh the other but that is for the individual to decide. However, if you’re worried about a loved one’s mental health, do not hesitate to contact a qualified professional to help with that matter.

 

[1]: NLM: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8933808/

[2]: HealthIT: healthit.com.au/how-big-is-the-internet-and-how-do-we-measure-it/

[3]: HMS: hms.harvard.edu/news/screen-time-brain

[4]: The Guardian: theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/14/eyeballs-screens-vision-nearsightedness-myopia

[5]: NLM: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5846126/

[6]: NLM: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3214398/