Screen Time Epidemic
Noah Phillips
Potential Solutions to the Screen-Time Epidemic
In our modern world, the amount of time adolescents spend on their devices is staggering. On average, boys spend 3.9 hours a day on social media alone, and the number increases to 5.6 for girls (Nilsson). The technological advancements we have had within the last few decades are impressive, but some of it has gone from helpful to necessary by ingraining itself in our daily lives. One notable example of this is the phone. It is immensely useful with its near infinite communication, entertainment, and knowledge, but because of how accessible it is due to the growing ease at which we’re able to mass-produce these items, the easier it is for children to become addicted. If children are to continue with their current trend of relying solely on technology, future generations are going to lean in even harder, and many of them will take on the unhealthy side effects. Getting kids to spend less time on their devices can be achieved by having them or their parents manually turn on screen time settings that prevent them from using their phones during specific periods, having an accountability partner hold onto their screen-time passwords to ensure they only regain access to their phones if absolutely necessary, and reducing the amount of time they spend on their phones by encouraging them to replace some of their phone time with a different activity or hobby.
One solution encouraged by cell phone manufacturers themselves is manually limiting the amount of time you are able to spend on your phone with a screen time application. Having a set amount of screen time during the day will not only ensure that people use their time on their phones wisely, but it’s also difficult to bypass and easy to activate considering that many cell phones have built-in apps that limit screen time, meaning that it will actually work in terms of reducing phone time and will be much more encouraging for people to use because of its convenience. However, these screen time apps usually have you set a password on the off chance that you need to bypass it for access to your phone, which leads to people having to set their own passwords for themselves, making it much more difficult to resist putting in the password and getting back on your phone. A great solution to this is having an accountability partner. “Knowing that someone is watching can be a powerful motivator… If you don’t follow through, perhaps they’ll see you as untrustworthy or lazy. Suddenly, you are not only failing to uphold your promises to yourself, but also failing to uphold your promises to others'' (Clear 210). Having a friend or family member keep track of that password is not only convenient, but it also ensures that you would need a good reason to ask them for the password should the need arise. Some people argue that screen time apps, although useful in their ability to show users how much time they spend on their phones, ultimately do nothing, as you would still need the consent of the users to implement them. However, there is a lot of evidence pointing to an increase in productivity, as one study involving a large group of adolescents found that, “The vast majority reported having replaced sedentary behaviors (mainly some form of screen-time) with physically active behaviors such as outside play or intentional fitness activities such as jogging, bike rides, chin-up’s, push-up’s, etc.,” (Lubans). This evidence could make convincing people to use these apps much easier.
Another solution similar in fashion to screen time apps is simply encouraging children to replace their screen time with different activities, whether it be something more organized like a sport or club or picking up a few new hobbies. Many schools already have a large catalog of extracurricular activities that kids can choose from, but even ignoring school, there are thousands of possible ways you can fill your time in a healthier manner. It simply comes down to the fact that these children just do not know what there is to do, because it often is not promoted very well. “The message that young people do best when they are challenged to strive... fails to address the most essential question of all: For what purpose?... Unless we make [questions such as this] a central part of our conversations with young people, we can do little but sit back and watch while they wander into a sea of confusion...” (Damon xii). Helping kids understand the potential dangers of phone addiction and helping them discover other options or replacements will make loosening their addictions much easier, especially so because they are being helped by a parental guardian they know and trust. Some might argue that this would not be enough to convince children to get off of their phones because they could potentially develop a fear of missing out on many things going on around the world and in the online communities they are in, but there is not any reason to completely cut them off from their phones. As mentioned previously, they are amazing and useful devices; it is only that they should be used in moderation to avoid the bad health side effects. Allowing them to fully decide for themselves how much time they’d like to spend on their phones without informing them of the health dangers could be considered irresponsible on the parent or guardian’s end.
The looming threat of losing ourselves and our attention spans completely within our phones and devices only grows stronger with each passing day due to the lack of urgency in spreading the information about why your phone can be bad for you. However, we are not far enough gone for it to be completely hopeless. It’s possible to reduce our phones into something that’s utilized safely instead of indulged in by using the screen-time reduction apps that can be downloaded or is already downloaded on phones, and by having an accountability partner hold onto your screen-time password so that you don’t risk giving into the temptation of using it when you shouldn’t. We can also encourage younger generations to replace some of their screen-time with extracurricular activities that schools provide, or with the thousands upon thousands of hobbies one can pick up. With our current knowledge of health and technology, this can be implemented risk-free and could help us build a future in which we control how we use our own phones, and not the other way around. We have to be willing to put in that little bit of extra effort to ensure that future generations can live their lives with a little more peace of mind.