Stop Wasting Your Time Online

How Reducing Your Screen time Will Improve Your Wellbeing

Jun 19, 2024

The average adult spends between 2 and 6 hours online each day.

I’m 37 years old today, and I have every intention of living to be at least 90 years old. From today onwards until the day I turn 90 years old, I have 19,379 days left.

Over the course of 19,379 days, spending 2 hours online each day would accumulate to a total of 38,758 hours spent online.

Now think about what else you could do with that time.

Image Created by Author using Microsoft Copilot

Why reducing your screen time is important

Since we moved off the grid, we’ve had several times when we found ourselves without internet.

This was due to many reasons: in the beginning, the internet just wasn’t set up yet. We’ve also had times when we didn’t have enough electricity to allow for internet, and once, our internet was knocked out due to a storm.

You would think this would have been stressful and that we would have hated it.

In fact, I loved every minute of it.

I noticed I almost instantly felt better when I wasn’t able to reach for my phone every second. My sleep improved because I wasn’t mindlessly scrolling social media before bed. My social interactions improved because I had more time for the people around me. I felt less stressed, there wasn’t this sense of urgency that I normally feel. I had more exercise and I was reading more, because, what else can you do!

It turns out, I’m not the only one noticing these benefits when we reduce our screen time.

What does the research say?

A study that looked at the impact of increased screentime during COVID lockdowns found the following:

People spending more time online or in front of the TV had a higher chance of having an unhealthy diet, including increased alcohol consumption
Eye health was worse for people who had high amounts of screentime (including dry eyes, strained eyes, sensitivity, difficulty focusing and painful eyes)
There was a significant correlation between increases in screentime (more than 5 hours a day) and anxiety and stress
Increases in screentime showed decreases in physical activity and increases in appetite and unhealthy food consumption and snacking
Sleep duration and quality were negatively affected by screentime

In short, the study showed that during the COVID lockdowns, people increased their time spent in front of screens, which had a negative impact on several aspects of their well-being. This impact couldn’t be explained solely by the lockdowns; i.e., the lockdown itself increased anxiety, but people who had more screen time during lockdown experienced even more anxiety.

Assessing your own screen time

Now, you might find yourself wondering how much time you spend in front of a screen and how much is too much.

In a lot of the research around screen time, hours at work aren’t included. A lot of people (including me) spend time in front of the computer for their jobs. However, I would argue that if you’re already using screens at work, it becomes even more important to find time to switch off.

As mentioned in the intro, if you spend 2 hours a day on your phone or in front of the TV, that’s time not spent on other important activities such as physical exercise, being outside, social activities, and being creative…

How to check your screen time on an Android phone

Open your device's Settings app.
Tap Digital Wellbeing & parental controls.
The chart shows your device use today. To access more information, tap the chart. For example, Screen time shows what apps you had on screen and for how long.

How to check your screen time on an iPhone

Go to Settings and then click on Screen Time.
Click on See All App & Website Activity, then go to Devices to select which device you want to see usage for.
Click on Week to see a summary of your weekly use, or go to Day to see a summary of your daily use.

How to reduce your screen time

I realize my tips below focus mostly on reducing screen time on your phone. That’s because we don’t own a TV, which, to be fair, is probably the best tip I can give you in terms of reducing your screen time!

One of the apps I use is the Forest app (I promise this isn’t sponsored). It’s a cute little app that lets you set a timer when you want to stay off your phone. During that time, you grow a tree. If you come back to your phone before your timer runs out, your little pixel tree dies. For some reason, this really motivates me.
You can also use your phone's built-in settings. For example, I have my phone set up so that after 9 p.m., it automatically closes all my apps, and the screen turns grey.
Another good way to reduce screen time is to have screen-free zones in the house, such as not bringing your phone into the bedroom. I don’t personally do this, but I probably should!
We do have screen-free times in our household: the dinner table is a no-phone zone. It allows for conversation and checking in with each other after work without being distracted by phones.
With all that spare time, it’s important to find alternative activities like going for a walk or reading a good old-fashioned book. Keeping yourself occupied will reduce your tendency to reach for your phone or turn on the TV.

Let me know in the comments what you will be doing to reduce your screen time?

Here’s what inspired me this week:

This week, I finally read “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” by Stephen King. This one had been on my to-read list for such a long time. Now I’m regretting I didn’t read it sooner. It was so good I finished it in a matter of days!

First of all, I absolutely loved learning more about Stephen King’s life. But what stood out for me the most was how much rejection he faced in the beginning and how that never stopped him from pursuing his dream.

At the beginning of his book, he writes about collecting rejection letters. But he kept going and persevered because he believed in what he was doing.

Think about it: if Stephen King stopped after the first or second ‘no,’ we wouldn’t have any of his books today.

So, with that little piece of motivation and the 2 hours a day you’ve now gained from reducing your screen time, there’s nothing stopping you from achieving your dream :-)

That’s it for this week. I hope you have enjoyed it! In the comments, let me know what you would do if you had two extra hours each day!