The dangers of excessive screentime are no new concept — we’ve all seen the posts and read the articles encouraging us to get off our phones and interact with the real world. While these claims are certainly not unfounded, perhaps we need to take a different attitude towards the online world. After all, we live in an increasingly digital society, so is cutting out screen time actually a healthy solution?
With screens permeating our lives through the professional, social, and educational sphere, it is next to impossible to avoid using a screen every day. But claiming that this unavoidable screen time is entirely unhealthy is a very black and white view.
Access to the digital world allows us to keep in touch with loved ones who are far away — something which, as a university student, I am deeply grateful for. Screens also provide professional opportunities that didn’t exist a mere ten years ago, like working from home, or making a living from social media. Education too, is becoming more accessible through online resources.
But why then, if screens are so useful, do we still prioritise in-person connection? Certainly, you’d be hard pressed to find a university student who says they prefer to FaceTiming their significant other rather than to see them in person. And if we could complete all of our university work online, why do we keep coming back in person? Evidently, we still value real-life human interaction, despite the interconnectedness that screens provide.
The importance of in-person connection is often one of the first arguments to be cited in the defence of digital detox. However, is this detox culture healthy? Digital detoxes promote the idea that completely cutting out screens from your life shows discipline and self-control which will automatically entail mental and even physical well-being. This culture focuses so much on restriction that it lacks any nuance, and this ‘all or nothing’ mentality cannot hold up in a world that so systematically relies on screens.
Indeed, an interesting video made by educational content creator Benjy Kusi highlights how digital detox culture falsely encourages us to attempt to tackle a systematic problem with an individual solution. Just because you cut-out screen time doesn’t mean the rest of the world will — it will just continue without you. A digital detox is marketed as a well-being promoting solution, when in reality it can be an isolating result of trying to counteract the intense digital reliance of our society.
Neither extreme is the answer. There is no question that excessive screen time is harmful, but similarly, extreme detox is unattainable and promotes an impossible ideal. We live in a paradoxical situation where online discourse is constantly telling us to avoid the digital world and yet simultaneously making it less and less possible for us to do that. Instead, we must focus on balance. FaceTime a friend, watch a lecture online, do some online shopping, but also go for a walk, read a physical book, cook a meal — the key is balance.
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash.