Most students, faculty and staff spend the majority of their time staring at a screen. It’s important to limit our screentime care for our physical and mental health.
Night Mode to Protect your Eyes
- The blue light that screens project can disrupt one’s natural sleep cycle. Staring at a screen for too long can also cause discomfort, dry eyes, and headaches! Night Mode is offered on most devices and apps to turn your screen dark instead of having the white screen.
- In addition to using Night Mode, follow the 20–20–20 Rule to prevent your eyes from getting too strained.
Track Your Screen Time
- Most phones have settings where you can limit the screen time on certain apps. Once you go over your allowed time the apps will lock. This can be very practical for those who tend to scroll on social media a lot.
- Managing screen time isn’t just for kids anymore; it’s for adults that need to get things done and need a little reminder to stay off their phone. Here are some apps that may help.
Schedule Time Without your Screens
- Schedule time away from your screens. Maybe this is an hour long walk, 30 mins spent eating a sandwich and listening to a podcast, cleaning your room, or taking a nap. Scheduling time away from your devices and filling it with something productive is good for your eyes and helps fill the time that you’d want to spend on your device.
24 Hour No-Tech Challenge
- Start off once a month to a no-tech day (preferably a weekend). Let your loved ones know that you will be doing your tech-detox for the day just to make sure they don’t get worried if you don’t answer your phone. Keep your phone on your in-case of emergencies but put it on Do Not Disturb and turn your push notifications off for your apps. You could also delete your social media apps and email app for the day to prevent temptations. Now, go out and try something you’ve always wanted to do and really live in the moment. Or stay in and catch up on all the chores you’ve been meaning to do.
