Opinion: The importance of balancing your phone and self-health
Our phones, laptops and other new technological devices have a way of making us spend more time with them over the rest of the world.
They have everything there — from our business meeting reminders to old friends who want to meet for coffee on facebook, to our instagram and twitter, where we post pictures of what we are eating and where we are, every second of the day.
Yes, it’s fun to see all of these things, and our friends get to keep track of the newest aspects of our life we, but are we keeping track of the time we spend on these gadgets?
According to an article by Madlen Davies on the Daily Mail, the average person sleeps around eight hours a day, but also spends eight hours on electronics, such as laptops and phones.
This means that the average person spends eight of the 24 hours in the day to do other worldly things. In reality, this is little time to do things that a person usually enjoys, or to spend time with family.
In the same article, it found the blue light on the phone screen messes with the body’s natural rhythms and makes the brain believe it is daytime, making it harder to fall asleep.
Not being asleep for a certain number of hours can obviously be dangerous for our health, as we don’t let our bodies rest after a hard day’s work..
There have been many experiments and challenges done where a person spent 24 hours away from their phone or any electronic. Some people described the break as soothing and nourishing because it allowed them time away from checking their notifications every few minutes.
This should be a challenge that everyone should do. Of course, you don’t have to spend a complete 24 hours away from your phone or laptop because in reality we do need it for work or talking to family members.
However, try replacing some of that time to talk with loved ones, or take a quick walk in the park. Instead of spending hours of our time behind a phone screen seeing who’s doing what, take that time to bond with yourself.
Before we spent all this time on electronics, what did we as an individual enjoy doing in our spare time?
There are many cute DIY tutorials such as writing down on strips of paper activities that family and friends could do together, putting it in a mason jar to use in the future. TASTY by Buzzfeed has easy recipes and videos that they post on YouTube that are fun to make. Try something that you have not done before.
If you live by the beach and the sun is out shining, grab a towel and some snacks and head your way there. A bonus is to leave your phone in the car or tucked away under your towel instead.
Spending less time on our phones can be hard for us at first, since we are so used to being on it in the first place. But if we take the initiative to challenge ourselves to go beyond and do something out of the norm, then we will not only better our physical health, but truly get to bond with ourselves again.
