Published By: Sohamhalder227

Screen time and mental health: Things you must know

The more you spend looking at the computer or mobile screen, the more you get news or memes. They can bring a smile to your face, but at the same time, worsen your mood.

Undeniably, the average screentime has been increasing since the pandemic in 2020. There could be countless reasons for it, but unknowingly you are impacting your mental health. Of course, you cannot survive without technology and information. But, you need to take care of your overall health. To aware you of the impact of screentime on mental health, here we bring this important article to you. Read on.

Recent trends in screentime and mental illness:

Over the last decade, the use of the mobile phone has increased rapidly. Considering the recent trend, around 70% of the global population usea mobile phone. Based on a recent report, the global adult population spends 4.5-5 hours looking at mobile phones. You might get surprised to find the link between excess screentime and mental health. Basically, excess screentime lead to eye problems and improper secretion of chemicals inside the body, that might harm your overall body. Nowadays, mental health issues affect at least 10–20% of the global young population.

Screen time is linked to depression:

Excess screentime can deteriorate a person’s mood instantly. Generally, news, comedy shows, and movies are watched excessively on the screen along with online games. In the beginning, they might bring you pleasure, but in the longer run, they can lead to depression. It has been found that people with more than 6 hours of screentime daily are prone to become depressed.

Excess Screentime at night is very harmful:

Excess screentime can lead to sleep deprivation, which is a root cause of anxiety, depression, and other psychotic issues. If your sleep schedule gets disrupted, melatonin secretion also gets hampered, which is related to mood swings and behavioral changes. Smartphones emit blue light which can deceive your brain into believing that daylight is still available. This leads to a huge change in mood and behavior. Thus, scientists suggest reading books rather than using a mobile phone.

Screentime is related to your self-esteem:

Social media is one of the predominant causes why people are stuck to mobile or computers. screens, especially smartphones. It has both positive and negative impacts. Let's take the example of following a celebrity on social media. You are getting every detail about this person and it's a common tendency of humans to get influenced by their lives, you start comparing their lifestyle with you, and get depressed about how you are living now. That is how excess screentime is affecting your self-esteem.

Screen time has some positive impacts too. One person is getting connected with others across the globe at a single click, you are getting an enormous amount of information by scrolling through news portals. However, you must keep the screentime below 3 hours a day considering your mental health.