CEBU CITY, Philippines — What is the first thing that you do the moment you wake up in the morning?
Are you one of those who immediately reaches out for our smartphones to check for notifications in our social media accounts?
If you are, you better read on.
Health experts are again reminding people to control their screen time, especially since staring at their smartphones for long periods isn’t good for our health.
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Yup, they said it before, they’re saying it again until we learn. Staring at our phones for most of the day isn’t good for us in so many ways, not just physically.
Some of its effects include causing dryness to the eyes, itchiness, headaches, and, at times, blurred vision.
In moderation
But beyond those impacts on one’s health, smartphones or gadgets, in general, could also affect people’s day-to-day function.
This was confirmed by a local psychometrician from the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7).
Jan Vinhery Taboada, DOH-7’s Health Officer 2 of the National Mental Health Program and Registered Psychometrician, reminded people that social media is “okay” because it has a lot of benefits, especially in the digital age. But people should remember that even when using smartphones, “everything is good but in moderation.”
Taboada underlined the importance of reminding oneself that they have lives outside social media.
People are using their smartphones for their work, studies, and other activities, but Taboada said it must not come to the point that they use all their time on their phones.
“There is really more to life than just checking your phones and focusing on them because people may not notice the impact immediately. But one day, they will feel that their eyes need some exercise,” she said in mixed English and Cebuano.
Reliance on social media causes laziness
Nowadays, people seek and use several delivery applications when they want items they bought to be delivered to their doorsteps.
Taboada acknowledged this benefit because it also minimizes the time spent on traveling.
However, if you are only in the house and do nothing but scroll through your social media feed, you might want to go to the nearby fast food restaurant to buy food instead of having a rider deliver it via application, according to Taboada.
She added that a short walk to get food is already a good exercise.
Meanwhile, according to research, when people rely too much on what social media can do, it could lead to mental laziness.
“Our smartphones help us find a phone number quickly, provide us with instant directions and recommend restaurants, but new research indicates that this convenience at our fingertips is making it easy for us to avoid thinking for ourselves,” reads the summary of the 2015 study of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
Set screen time limit
When people use their smartphones for entertainment and games, there are tendencies that they would lose track of. Sometimes, they would not notice they had already spent more than an hour only scrolling through their phones.
With this, setting screen time is important, she said.
Taboada also admitted that she is among those people who experience spending a long period of time watching short-form videos.
She believes that people get hooked on watching videos because these applications have “patterns” that fit the preferences of social media users.
“Screen time is very important…that’s why the parents must start disciplining their children when they use their phones by allowing them thirty to one hour of screen time,” she said in mixed Cebuano and English.
Meanwhile, as for the adults, Taboada urged them to remind themselves to set a limit on their screen time.
“If you are an adult, you will know how much screen time you need because sometimes our work requires screens. But again, [don’t forget to] detach from your gadgets occasionally,” she said.
For those with working-from-home setups, Taboada reminded them to consider de-stress and seeing nature during their day off, or even catch up with friends when they are free.
References:
What Your Phone Might Be Doing to Your Brain
