The number of hours spent on screens each day has increased to seven or eight during the pandemic. This is a huge increase from the daily average screen time of three hours and fifteen minutes, according to a top digital marketer. According to studies, people who spend more time in front of screens may experience a range of physical and mental health issues. A person’s body will suffer from too much screen time. Therefore, we must find ways to use screens while paying more attention to our health if we want to prevent the unintentional emergence of physical and mental health issues in our human bodies.

Even if staring at screens for limited periods of time does not pose a health risk to us, experts are concerned that if the recommended time restrictions are exceeded, it may have negative effects on our health. We blink 15 times each minute on average as humans. While staring at screens for prolonged periods of time, the article does mention that our blink rate is reduced by a factor of two. Due to the inflammation that results, we may experience eye strain, dry eye syndrome, and other problems.

Doctors advise using the 20-20-20 rule as a preventative measure for eye problems related to screens. According to research, taking a break from the screen every 20 minutes can help you blink more frequently. Our eyes tend to feel less dry and itchy when they blink more frequently. The likelihood of eye problems decreases with decreasing eye dryness. The 20-20-20 rule is now firmly established as the human body’s first protective barrier for safeguarding our eyes.

Additionally, in addition to eye-related problems associated with screens, we also frequently experience neck-related problems. Long periods of time spent looking down at screens can strain our necks and lead to other problems. The tendency to stare down and tilt our heads forward for extended periods of time might alter the way our necks naturally curve. According to this theory, this change in curvature over time may lead to misalignment and wear and tear on the neck’s supporting systems.

As a result, medical professionals think that altering our posture will relieve the strain that gazing at screens puts on our neck muscles. By developing a different habit when using a smartphone, you can alter your posture. In our opinion, you should hold the device up to your eyes rather than slouching down to look at it. This behaviour will align the spine and stop the neck from bending. This exercise will therefore strengthen the spine and reduce neck pain.

Spending too much time on screens can cause mental health problems as well as sleep-related problems like insomnia. Social media use is the glue that keeps us glued to our screens for extended periods of time. We see posts from different users online when we are sucked into social media. These elements of posts are merely the idealised portions of people’s lives; in the actual world, they are just as vulnerable as us viewers. As a result, we may feel depressed when we see someone else’s popularity grow as a result of their posts, whether intentionally or unconsciously.

We have a tendency to unfairly contrast ourselves with ideal individuals who do not exist in a perfect world. We suffer a loss of self-esteem as a result. After making depressing comparisons to the ideal online world, low self-esteem causes us to build walls of negativity around ourselves. We are cut off from the outside world because we are inside the walls. If this continues for a long time, it might eventually result in clinical depression since loneliness leads to mood fluctuations (sadness), anxiety, insomnia, and other problems.

We have a tendency to unfairly contrast ourselves with ideal individuals who do not exist in a perfect world. We suffer a loss of self-esteem as a result. After making depressing comparisons to the ideal online world, low self-esteem causes us to build walls of negativity around ourselves. We are cut off from the outside world because we are inside the walls. If this continues for a long time, it might eventually result in clinical depression since loneliness leads to mood fluctuations (sadness), anxiety, insomnia, and other problems.

Loneliness, anxiety, and eventually depression can result from failing to keep social media and real life distinct. Therefore, if our basic human requirements for face-to-face interaction are met, we won’t feel lonely or nervous, which in turn won’t lead to insomnia or severe depression.