How a Year of Staring at Screens is Affecting Your Health

Screen time is something that is talked about all the time. It wasn’t until a project I had to do for a 100 level communication course at my university that the term “screen time” actually registered with me.

For this project, we had to track how much time we spent on screens throughout the day. In just a single day I was spending the majority of my time on a screen and at the end of the week, my screen time totaled just under 24 hours (which was low for my class).

This greatly impacted me and I made it a mission every day to limit the amount of screen time I had.

Now as we enter over a year of being in a global pandemic where our lives are now more digital than ever I found my screen time now rising even higher than it was back before I did that project sophomore year.

And I was not alone.

According to Techcrunch, “The coronavirus pandemic accelerated America's addiction to technology,” (Wall, COVID-19 made our TECH addiction worse: It's time to do something about it 2020)

As someone who already has not the best vision, I knew that the amount of screen time I was having must be having some impact on my eyes. This is where the term blue light came into my vocabulary. I knew the term vaguely from getting ads on youtube for blue light glasses, but I was unsure what the effect blue light had on my vision exactly was.

According to an article on Goop about blue light, “Blue light, also referred to as high-energy visible light, ranges from 400 to 500 nanometers. This is low on the visible spectrum, closer to the harmful end.” (How to protect your eyes from blue light overexposure 2020)

So what does this exactly mean? “Overexposure to blue light can cause problems with eye health. Think of it like exposure to the sun: A minimal amount is a good source of vitamin D and helps regulate our sleep patterns. Too much causes skin damage.” (How to protect your eyes from blue light overexposure 2020)

There have not been enough studies conducted yet to see the exact long-term effects of too much blue light exposure from technology screens.

For now, there are steps that you can take to help reduce the short-term effects of blue light. Since it looks like (at least for now) that our new digital lives are going to be with us for a while

longer.

1. Turn the temperature down on all of your devices’ screens

2. Get blue light filter glasses

3. Turn your electronics off 30-60 minutes before bed

4. Set limits on non-essential apps (social media, news, sports, etc)

5. Have your phone turn onto dnd at a certain time every night

Sources:

Wall, S. (2020, December 10). COVID-19 made our TECH addiction worse: It's time to do something about it. Retrieved April 20, 2021, from https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/10/covid-19-made-our-tech-addiction-worse-its-time-to-do-something-about-it/

How to protect your eyes from blue light overexposure. (2020, July 07). Retrieved April 20, 2021, from https://goop.com/wellness/health/how-to-protect-your-eyes-from-blue-light-overexposure/