How are you going with managing your screen time fatigue? With the current restrictions of quarantine and social distancing that have been enforced in society, all of us have begun utilising electronic devices more frequently in order to complete occupational requirements, to socially interact with our family and friends, and for leisure activities. Accessing screen devices has become a norm in society and may have become even more of an essential with COVID-19. There are benefits with regards to utilising electronic devices such as computers, phones and tablets as they allow us to access information at a rapid pace whilst also allowing us to stay in touch with those dearest to us.
One of the main complications and questions that arises in our daily lives when we engage with our electronic devices is how much screen time is too much?
Research and discussions about the excessive use of electronic devices are generally targeted towards parents monitoring their child’s usage. It may be useful for parents to reflect on how much their child may be accessing their electronic devices for leisure activities as opposed to educational tasks. You may notice that the higher usage and duration of your screen time can lead to you feeling less energetic and experience a sense of fatigue. With this in mind, it may be useful to think about your screen time use and ask yourself some reflective questions on how it could be affecting you.
Some points and question that you could consider about your screen time are as follows:
Procrastination is normal when using electronic devices and everyone gets distracted during a work day. It could still be useful to ask yourself whether you believe you have been productive with your screen time if you have had work or educational requirements to complete. How much time has been used to complete essential tasks as opposed to surfing the internet? How am I feeling right now after I have been on my screen? Has my mood improved/worsened? Am I feeling positive or irritable? How are my energy levels? Am I feeling refreshed or am I feeling weighed down?
Notice what has happened to your energy levels and whether you would be able to complete any physical activity, or socialise with others after your screen time. Has your screen time use reached the point where you feel like you can only remain sedentary due to a drop in energy? It could also be useful to reflect upon whether or not your screen usage has led to you being less socially available prior to when you began using your electronic device.
If you ask yourself some of these reflective questions and you feel unsatisfied with your screen time usage and how it has affected you, it could be useful to ask yourself “how can I change my relationship with my screen devices?” Could I lessen my screen time and complete other leisure activities which don’t involve a screen (e.g. reading, physical activity, crosswords, puzzles, sudoku etc.)? What strategies could I put in place to lessen my leisure screen time usage?
As well as individually identifying our own relationships with our screen time usage, parents may have concerns about their children’s usage of electronic devices. Some questions that may be useful for parents to ask themselves and discuss with each other could be: In what ways do I monitor my child’s time spent on their electronic devices? How is my child utilising their electronic devices? Are they predominantly using them for leisure and social or educational purposes? What is my child’s mood like after using their screen devices? Has my child been more sedentary since being away from school? It may be useful to monitor how much screen time your child is exposed to before they go to bed as it could begin to affect their sleep duration. A child could be shortening their sleep cycle as a result of staying up later because they are accessing an electronic device.
Overall, with the knowledge that we will all have more accessibility to screens during this time in lockdown, it may be useful to continually ask ourselves “for what purpose are we using our electronic devices?” and “how do I feel after I have used it?” The more we ask these questions and build our awareness into our behaviour, the more we will be able to manage screen time fatigue.
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This blog was prepared and written by Mr Tom Manthos, Psychologist here at Melbourne Wellbeing Group.