How To Reduce The Time We Spend In Front Of Screens?
We need to use new technologies to be able to study and work in today’s world, especially now that the pandemic has made teleworking the norm.
Working for several hours in a row in front of a computer, in addition to abusing other electronic devices such as cell phones, affects our eyes in a very negative way. The blue light emitted by these devices induces visual health problems, sleep problems and even depression.
Knowing how to reduce the time we spend in front of screens has become extremely necessary know in order to prevent our health from suffering and below we are going to see some types to achieve it.
How to reduce the time we spend in front of screens
That abusing screens entails damage to health has been known for a long time. Spending many hours in front of an electronic device causes visual health problems, such as red eyes, eye fatigue, stinging, blurred vision and headaches, symptoms typical of computer vision syndrome.
Added to this, Continuous exposure to light from the screen influences our circadian cycle translated into difficulties sleeping and, indirectly, depression and other mood problems.
Taking into account all these health problems associated with the abuse of electronic devices, it is necessary to acquire strategies to reduce the time we are exposed to screens. It is true that the way we work and study forces us to spend more hours than we would like in front of the computer and mobile phone, something that seems unlikely to be in our power to reduce, however, it is possible to apply changes and new daily habits that help us have a healthier relationship with new technologies.
These are a few strategies that we can apply to learn how to reduce the time we spend in front of screens.
1. Do not use screens the hour before going to sleep
As we mentioned, light from screens negatively affects our circadian cycles. Although the ideal is not to have used a screen in the two hours before going to bed (this also applies to television), in practice this is rather complicated, so we should aim to at least not use screens in the hour before going to bed. to sleep.
Screens emit blue light, especially cell phones, which suppresses melatonin levels, the hormone that controls sleep cycles. As a result, we may take longer to fall asleep, our sleep may be worse, and we may not perform adequately the next day, in addition to running the risk of suffering from depressive symptoms.
2. Set a screen break time
During the day we must establish times when electronic devices cannot be used, especially if they are times of the day when we know that it is very unlikely that we will receive a notification from our work or studies. It is those moments when we have no obligations that we can use to free ourselves from the great presence that new technologies have in our lives.
Any time that suits us is perfect. For example, We can choose to do it during meals, committing ourselves not to use our cell phones or watch TV at all while we are eating Calculating that it takes us about 20 minutes to eat each meal, if we followed this rule per day we would have a guaranteed hour and 20 minutes of screen time.
For this to work, it is also very important to extend it to other times of the day that do not require the presence of screens at all. If we go to the bathroom or go to the supermarket to do the shopping, we should avoid using the cell phone in these situations. To do our business we don’t need cell phones, and we can memorize the shopping list or write it down on a piece of paper.
3. Set email alerts
If we are waiting for a work email to arrive, it is possible that we are checking it every now and then on our mobile phone to see if it has arrived. The problem with doing so is that we run the risk of becoming entertained with every glance we take, ending up in applications that are not so work-related such as social networks or video games. To avoid this, a good way is to set alerts to notify us when we have received an email and leave our cell phone out of our sight
4. Change phone settings
Many of us are unable to get away from the phone. This is normal because they are enabled so that the colors of their applications captivate us and attract attention, making us spend more time glued to them. One way to avoid this is to change the screen colors to grayscale mode making the applications not so attractive to us.
Another way is to activate the screen time limit function or, if your mobile phone does not have it, download one of the many applications that offer this functionality. Every time we exceed the established time, a notice will appear or, depending on the application we have installed, it may even prevent us from using the mobile phone for a while.
It is a very good option to group social media applications in a folder that does not appear on the home screen, that is, they are a little more hidden. Although we will not be able to avoid using the cell phone for work or studies, at least we can avoid using it to resort to social networks which is, without a doubt, a significant saving in exposure to the screen.
5. Print the documents
A good strategy to avoid vision problems is to print documents, whether class notes or work reports. In both cases, having the documents printed It will allow us to turn off the computer for a moment and consult the texts anywhere in the house or in a library, giving our eyes a rest of the blue light of the screen.
In the case of students, printing their notes has an advantage and that is that they can underline the text and make notifications, which make knowledge better established. It is true that this implies financial expense and paper consumption but, if they are important documents, using this strategy is worth it.
6. Rest every 60 minutes
To the extent that our work or classes allow it, we should take a short eye break every 60 minutes. To do this, we can take a quick walk inside the house or even on the street, for no more than 5 minutes so we can continue with our obligations We can also go to the bathroom to wash our face and moisturize our eyes a little.
If it is not possible for us to take breaks from time to time, a good alternative is that, when we are writing in a word processor, we look at the keyboard and check the text at the end. At first we may make more mistakes, but with a little practice we will write perfectly, and this option allows us to work for hours at a time on the computer without the continuous effects of exposure to its screen.
