Screen Addiction is Digital Heroin-(including reading this article)
Obviously you are not printing your medium articles and reading it like a newspaper with coffee. Likely you are reading it in your desktop, laptop, tablet or worse your mobile phone app.
Even if you read this article on the largest screen possible, it is still bad for your eyes and brain.
Our cumulative screen time has increased a dozen fold amidst this virus lockdown. We are consuming news of/by/from/on the virus from our good old television or via the gazillion apps available on the planet. The news is never-ending, and numerous cures and vaccines are developed and killed on the news every single day.
Kids bear the brunt: With online classes started to engage the school-going children, kids are forced to watch the tablet or smartphone for classes. Apart from the reason that these classes lack the social interaction, and add little value to the learning, there is the danger of increased screen time. When more screen time is bad for adults, it is worse for kids. Increased glare from the smartphones, and forced viewing on a small screen, impair their vision and induces lifestyle diseases at a young age.
They have not yet been educated to listen, and forcing them to adapt to this new learning mechanism is hard on them. Schools do these as they would miss an academic year fee and also the added gap in learning. Parents also toe in line for this, as they do not have the measures to engage them for a longer period. With no physical activities, staring at walls and tablets for classes is a double whammy.
Kids need to be played with traditional games like carrom, chess, marbles, and even cards. Any game sans the use of a gadget is a welcome measure. These help them with a distraction and also sharpens their creativity and intellect.
Elders on a see-saw: The virus-induced lockdown has made all the elders locked up at home. They are deprived of their temple visits, relatives visit, dropping grandkids to school, visiting other places, or going in for their morning walks.
An idle mind is always a devils workshop, and they circulate good minded and often junk messages. Coffee is promised as a cure, and history is offered that Chinese drank it, rock salt with water and at prominent places at home, herbal cure, turmeric with hot water, and then absorbing sunlight at noon, inhaling the medicinal vapors, hot summer will kill the virus to rain will wash away the virus.
Astrology video of a young kid predicting it would be a downward trend in corona cases from June 2020 is still doing the rounds. Senior citizens not only want to learn these tricks but are clear in adopting them as well. Religious discourses on audio, short walks inside the home, small games to keep the brain activity are crucial to killing the boredom odds.
Adults were already blind: Young adults were only recognized by their smartphones and their numerous social media accounts. You are not tech-savvy if you lack Facebook, Instagram, and twitter credentials. Office work with the exception of factory workers was only done via laptop screens and the remaining time was spent on smartphones.
The smartphone name coinage is smart for the phone has become smart to dumb us all.
In a pre-corona world, even the tough introverts had a limited social life. Most would hang out for the cinema, beaches, catch up with friends. Pubs and restaurants were brimming with activity on weekends. Travel and trekking were on the to-do list. Now, even a visit to the doctor for a non-corona ailment is being frowned upon. You are more likely to catch the virus in a hospital environment than otherwise.
OTT platforms have been quick to capitalize on the trend. Exclusive premieres are being streamed every weekend, giving a movie weekend mirage. Re-runs of old tv serials have already started. The number of streaming platforms seems more than the number of movies available. There is one to be started every week to catch this frenzy. No wonder, Netflix, and Google stocks are roaring on the stock market.
Screen time of work and entertainment all seem to add up, and people are staring at the white light more than ever. Increased screen time, plays with your circadian rhythm, and spoils your sleep hormones. Reduced usage and limiting your screen time is crucial for your health. Runners are in lockdown mode, with many including myself running between the living room and kitchen. It is not sheer coincidence that my medium articles have been consistent during this lockdown phase.
More youtube cooking channels, blogs for subscription, lockdown stories, more digital certificates, all do good to kindle your interest. But caring for your eyes is now important than ever.
Let us take a resolution to reduce our screen time, slowly on a regular basis, with no-gadget weekends, more indoor games, and meditation. All these would help us see the post-corona world clearly.
