Understanding the Impact of Screen Exposure on Youth

Screens have become a Ubiquitous and inalienable part of our life. The present generation has adopted the screen from mobile phones to laptops. Thus, it has certain ramifications that impact the health of individuals. The average display time in India is 7.3 hours per person denoting that we have reached the zenith of the use of screen.

As a result in urban children 8.5% (95% CI, 7.1–9.9%) and in rural settings 6.1% (95% CI, 4.5–7.7%) have been suffering from myopia for the past four decades. The mental health condition of students and youth has deteriorated and the dopamine addiction due to screen is a matter of major concern. The aspects where the screen has intervened are inclusive of:- 

Impact on cognitive development 

Increased screen time has impacted children’s cognitive development significantly in young children and youth. The regions of the brain that require significant exposure, physical play and hands-on experience get affected when their world gets bound inside small screens. Thus, their decision-making capabilities, problem-solving and linguistic development are impacted phenomenally. 

Impact on mental health 

Emotional well-being and personality development are being affected by display time. Personality development requires time for proper exposure and communication. When the majority of the period gets soaked by the screen, these important aspects rest behind the curtains. Emotional well-being can only be learned through required practical exposure. Besides these problems, Online bullying, anxiety because of implied presence on social media and even depression can be the consequences of mishandled use of screens. 

Impact on physical health  

Extended display time can lead to a sedentary lifestyle which can lead to catastrophic consequences for health. It can lead to sleep deprivation, disturbances and fatigue. It can promote laziness among children and can increase their addictive behaviour. Thus it is high time that we need reforms in the way our lifestyles deal with such impacts of screens especially for our children. 

Eye strain and myopia 

Excessive screen time can cause dry eyes syndrome, eye strain and finally Myopic eyes in children. Except for the cases of Lasik surgery, this disruption cannot be reversed through any method. Thus having spectacles has become very common in society, however, consequences have far negative impact. 

Decreases the intimacy of relations 

Relationships nowadays need to be nursed carefully for their positive growth. It requires that we provide the required time to relations which is being spent on reels or shorts. The addiction to screens is something that requires urgent attention as children’s holistic development also requires healthy relations. A child will for the relations by learning on the field rather than on screen. 

Cyberbullying 

Cyberbullying is a crime where children get bullied through the internet. When children tend to spend significant time on screen they expand their e-networks. Not all people on this network are reliable leading to apprehensions of cyberbullying. It can distract the child from his mainstream life and provide her with some traumatic causalities. Although just the screen is alone not responsible for it, however, its role here can not be neglected 

Reduces creativity 

Dependency on the screen and online world for the completion of all creative tasks will not stimulate the parts of the brain dealing with creativity. Thus it will significantly hampers the creative development of children. 

Ways to tackle the raised problem

Set the screen time limits:-

Setting the optimal time limits for the screen can help to reduce the risks associated with it. Thus we must categorize our tasks as screened or non-screened tasks. Thereby assigning the time in which we need to complete the screened tasks. 

Promote quality sleep:-

we must keep all electronic devices away from the bedroom before hours of sleep. This will help us to improve sleep quality and handle the loss due to screens in the bedroom. 

Monitor content:-

The content to which children are exposed must be monitored. We must keep away the explicit content from children to prevent them from the harmful impact of screens.

Encourage communications:-

We need to attract the attention of children from the screen to relations and communication. Special time needed to be provided to children for their holistic growth. This time will help them to nurture themselves and find a beautiful world outside the screen. 

Create screen-free zones:-

We must decide some regions as screen-free including kitchens, bedrooms, and bathrooms. This will break the chains of continuity with screens thus preventing addiction 

Thus in a nutshell we shall conclude that we must follow the viable pathway where we are considering screen as just the part of process. There are a lot of ramifications of excessive screen time. If we want to protect our children from its negative consequences, we must have a systematic schedule dealing with screen time. 

References

Pexels images, Negative impact of screen ( https://prashanthhospitals.org/blog/the-impact-of-screen-time-on-childrens-development-and-mental-health#:~:text=Physical%20Health%3A&text=Spending%20too%20much%20time%20in,screen%20time%20on%20physical%20health.