Screens and Mental Health

Ever since the advent of technology in the world, there has been a discussion going around it, either of one sort or another. The main topics of these discussions have always been if technology is beneficial to mankind or harmful, and no conclusion could ever be made out of these arguments as every single person has a subjective reality of his own. While some have always been against it, many have come up as the protagonists.

If we talk about the "screen", it comprises every single technological facility that is based on the digitalization of content. We're from the era where the whole world has been squeezed inside a single device, be it a smartphone, a desktop/laptop, or any other gadget. Everything in the world is now just a click away from us, and we can access any kind of content within seconds. From watching movies and dramas on our screens to using the same for educational purposes, we all spend a major portion of our day on this single thing! Research has shown that a high number of kids, as well as adults, stay online constantly throughout the day.

Relationship between Screen and Mental Health:

It is essential to acknowledge that every technology comes with its pros and cons, and we cannot ignore any of these. What we extract out of it is dependent on us, as we are the ones using it. Technology was created by man and hence we as humans, hold the power to control it and use it for our benefit rather than for our destruction. No invention in the world can harm us unless we let it. Likewise, the relationship between screens and mental health is primarily based on the way we use and handle them. If we talk about mental health getting affected, we must note that it is not the screen that harms our mental health but the screen time! The amount of time we spend looking at our screens is what nourishes mental health problems. When we unnecessarily spend a lot of time on these screens, it triggers malfunctioning of our brain, but the same screens when used for productive purposes in a controlled manner, do wonders for us.

Positive effects of the screen on our lives and mental health:

There are a lot of benefits of this technological tool that we cannot negate. From recreational purposes to educational ones, it is the screen that facilitates us every time. We can access all kinds of data and information necessary for our daily life functioning through a variety of search engines available. It has made working easier for us as we no longer need to make efforts physically to collect and use relevant data. It helps in the reduction of work anxiety. Apart from that, we can connect to people for positive activities and establish good relationships with others through the use of social media. YouTube can be used to watch motivational, informative, and recreational content, which can be a psychological relaxant for us. We can also express ourselves and our opinions through social media, which can prove to be a catharsis tool for us, enabling us to let the things that negatively affect us come out instead of piling up inside. In the last two decades, social media has proved to be a powerful tool when it comes to generating awareness on the topics that are ignored and not highlighted. It has helped us to become the voice for the voiceless and oppressed. Research in 2019 revealed that adults who use social media in a controlled manner are less likely to experience psychological distress. All these positive aspects show that we can benefit from our screen if we use it sensibly and productively.

Contrary to this, if we mishandle this technology, the same screen can destroy our mental health and leave us incapable of doing anything. It can prove to be life-threatening and handicapping if used in the wrong way!

Let's look at how a single screen can affect our mental health in a potentially great number of ways.

Prolonged screen time and its negative psychological effects:

Multiple research has been done on the relationship between screen time and mental health and it has been proven that they have a direct relation. The longer the screen time, the higher the risks to mental health. The satisfying and pleasing screen content can cause serious psychological problems in individuals, that will have long-term effects on their lives and their normal functioning. When mental health deteriorates, ultimately the physiological health gets affected as well, because every process going on in our body and initiated and regulated by our brain.

Following are some of the proven and most prominent mental health problems faced by individuals who have a prolonged screen time;

1-A study conducted in 2017 revealed that the adults who spent their time watching TV or using a computer for more than 6 hours a day, had a high probability of experiencing moderate or severe depression. Depression is the most dangerous psychological disorder and it almost leaves a person incapable of doing anything. It destroys one's ability to think and act normally, ultimately leading to a sharp decline in mental and physiological health as well.

2-A research conducted in 2014 revealed that using smartphone/laptop screens before bedtime can suppress melatonin (a hormone responsible for regulating sleep-wake cycles in our body), which can ultimately lead to a disruption in our sleep cycle. Adequate amount of sleep is essential for our normal functioning and when it gets disturbed, we suffer from laziness and unproductivity.

3-Another consequence of prolonged screen time is the way it affects our relationships. According to psychological research, loneliness is caused by a lack of connectivity with our real-life relationships. When we start giving that time to our screens, which should've been given to the people around us, we unconsciously start feeling isolated and depressed.

4-Screen time is a sedentary behavior and sedentary behaviors ultimately lead to major depression and anxiety.

5-Excessive screen time causes the grey matter of our brain (the area responsible for the regulation of cognitive processes) to shrink and also causes deformities in the white matter (the network of the brain's signal communication). This leads to a loss of cognitive ability, weak memory, poor concentration, weak impulse control, and distorted information processing.

6-Constantly socializing through digital devices causes a decline in real-life socializing skills and also develops a lack of confidence as the individual replaces real-life interactions with digital ones. It can also lead to the development of anti-social tendencies among teenagers and adults.

7-Spending a lot of time on the screen creates a very negative effect on one's ability to receive and comprehend emotional stimuli. Individuals ultimately become insensitive in real-life and behave like a machine, who is incapable of making strong emotional judgments. Also, weakened emotional abilities lead to desensitization towards violent content which ultimately triggers violent behaviors and aggression in individuals.

8-Lower self-esteem can also be easily caused by the extensive use of social media, as it triggers social comparison and unhealthy competition. Most people portray a fake perfect lifestyle and unrealistic beauty standards on social media which causes feelings of inferiority and lower self-esteem among individuals because they feel they're way behind those "perfect people". It ultimately makes us forget that nothing in this world is perfect!

9-The habit of checking phones and social media constantly develops anxiety among individuals and makes them incapable of focusing on anything else!

Conclusion:

It is important to acknowledge that we cannot eliminate this technology from our lives as it is an inevitable fact that it has become an important part of our lives. Also, we cannot reduce the necessary screen time that is based on our work and essential relaxation time. What we can do is eliminate the unnecessary amount of screen time from our lives and create a balance between our digital and personal life. The ample amount of time that we give to our screens should be given to our real-life relationships. It has become difficult for us to change this lifestyle as we are already too used to it, but it is never too late to learn from our mistakes and reform ourselves. If we only restrict ourselves to using these devices only when we have to work or want a short break from our hectic routines, we can make a huge difference in our lives. We just have to create a balance between our screen time and personal life by assigning a fixed amount of time to our digital use and don't even look at our screens other than that time. It is high time that we focus on this aspect, for our own mental and emotional well-being!

"Being a part of the technological era, it is always our decision to either consume the technology or to let it consume us"