"You can imagine if you were at the gym and you held a dumbbell, your bicep would be extremely sore nine hours later.... Same thing for your eyes, you have to take breaks to relieve those muscles," (Starr, 2015). Even as an avid user of technology, I have to agree that we all need frequent breaks from our screens. Our school provides these electronic breaks by prohibiting the use of electronics during break and lunch time. The constant use of a screen can be detrimental to our health. First and foremost, staring at a screen for hours on end is extremely damaging to your eyesight. Furthermore, you lose direct connection with those around you, while you are connecting with others, halfway around the globe, some whom you may not even know. In addition to poorer eyesight, overuse of electronics can affect your mental and physical health in a negative way.
Social isolation is the lack of contact with other people in normal daily living, such as, in school, with friends during social activities. We isolate ourselves by listening to our iPods or staring at the screen of the latest mobile device even when we are around other people. The use of online social media causes us to meet face-to-face with much less frequency resulting in a lack of much needed social skills. We lose the ability to read body language and social cues in other people (Roo, 2013). Most children and teenagers spend 75 percent of their waking lives with their eyes fixed on a screen, according to a recent study performed by the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda (ICMPA). The study also found that students who unplugged their electronic devices for a 24-hour period felt extremely lonely and did not know how to fill their time (Morgan, 2014). During this time however, we could be interacting with our friends, studying for upcoming tests or doing homework.
School is definitely a very stressful part of life and although technology can work to ease the stress and simplify your workload, it may have the reverse effect. Do you ever find yourself stressing over not getting a reply from your latest text message? Or maybe you find yourself constantly checking your Facebook to make sure you’re caught up on your social circle, or to see the number of likes you got on a photo. If the results were not what you expected or had hoped for, it could really take a toll on your emotional health. We already have the stress from real life, we don’t need to add the additional stress of an online one as well (Simpson, 2013). In a recent book, Professor Rosen of California State University, Dominguez Hills conducted a study of high school students to determine how technological distractions affected their study habits. He discovered that students could concentrate for an average of a measly three minutes at a stretch. The major culprit behind their lack of focus was technology. Students who tended to change tasks frequently or to check Facebook even once during the 15-minutes they were monitored were likely to be poor students. Students reported that even without the constant reminders provided by notification lights and sounds, they were internally preoccupied with whether anyone was trying to get in touch with them or commenting on their statuses (Liz,Soltan).
In school, recess represents an essential, planned respite from rigorous thinking. It affords a time to rest, play, imagine, think, move, and socialize. After recess, for children or after a corresponding break time for adolescents, students are more attentive and better able to perform cognitively (Guinn-Jones, 2013). Recess is meant for students to have downtime to not think or focus on something. If we allow the use of devices during breaks, students will not get the time to relax and mentally prepare themselves for the lessons ahead. Using electronics is a sedentary activity as students won’t be able to play football or walk around while doing so.
Technology is amazing, unlimited resources at your fingertips, it’s no wonder why we use it so often. However, overuse of screened devices can lead to reduced eyesight, Taking enforced rest from screen time during breaks in school, will help reduce the risk of myopia. Myopia or nearsightedness happens when one views gadgets close-up for long periods of time, resulting in eyes getting stuck in the close-up focus position and no longer able to focus on distant objects. It has been found that nearsightedness in countries such as Singapore and Japan have risen to epidemic proportions, due solely to increasing amounts of focusing on close objects. 80 per cent of 18-year-old male army recruits are nearsighted, up from 25 percent just 30 years ago (International Myopia Prevention Association, 2005).
“Most digital screens are backlit and emit blue light, or high-energy visible (HEV) light wavelengths, which the group said can cause irritation and possibly long-term damage to the retina.” (Seidman, 2015) This means that using a screen for an extended period of time without breaks, will damage your eyesight. Also, while you’re socializing on the net, you’re doing the exact opposite to those around you. As well as bad vision, overuse of electronics will be detrimental for your health.
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