Hello, everyone.
Welcome to my blog and another wonderful edition of the Hive Learners' featured post. Unregulated screentime is really a bad habit many of us have today, especially the youths of this generation. We are so addicted to our phones and gadgets that we can spend the whole day on them. In most cases, the aftereffects of excess screen time do not take place immediately; some time it comes back to hunt us, while sometimes the aftereffects take place almost immediately.
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I attended a sermon sometime ago, and the pastor said, "The youths of this generation only think about their future when their phones die." Truth be told, what he said was not a complete lie, and though many youths picked offense, there are atoms of truth in what he said. I have seen cases where a friend wakes up without even saying his morning prayer or stepping down from the bed. At least the first thing he did was grab his phone, and that is how his day started. Many of us are guilty of that, too.
Phones and gadgets come even before food in priority ranking, and we can spend all day moving from one app to another. Too much screen time can be addictive; let's not talk about the health challenges that come with it. In 2022, when schools went on strike for about 8 months, I got so addicted to my phone during this period, moving from one app to the other and from the hive platform back to those apps. I was seeing movies daily, and for hours when I got tired of surfing the internet, my phone was only off my hands when I was sleeping, and the moment I wake up, I was back to business.
A friend in school once said that if he were a phone or a gadget, he wouldn't pray for a user like me. It was true because sometimes the temperature of my phone gets very hot and the phone starts to malfunction, but that still does not stop me from operating it. My parents always complain, but I never listened until the aftereffects came knocking. In late 2022 and early 2023, I started noticing my eyes get itchy once they come into contact with light, no matter how small the light might be. I thought it was just normal and things would get back to normal, until it got to the point where it was both itchy and teary once there was light.
That is when I realized I was in trouble. I complained to my dad, and he almost did not want to hear what I had to say because he warned me. I later visited the hospital, was given glasses, and was instructed to only be on my phone or laptop if it was important. During this period, I had little or no screentime. That is how my regulation of screen time started; now I regulate how much time I spend on my phone, and it has helped improve my eyes again, and sometimes I can operate my phone and laptop without the glasses.
I learned my lesson the hard way, and sometimes I am glad I got to learn the hard way. The pain I passed through then helped me get rid of my addiction to my phone, as well as help me adopt strategies and ways to help regulate my screentime. Below are a few methods I use:
Switch off the phone before going to bed. Once I am done for the day, I switch my phone off because leaving it on means it is the first thing I will pick up the next day.
Try to stay occupied with offline activities; this helps keep me away from my phone and gadgets. If you are busy, you tend to forget that you even have a phone.
Most of all, hang out with friends; it works every time.
Thanks for reading my post.