Impact of excess digital device usage habits
Excess or uninformed or unhealthy choices of digital device usage can have lot of negative consequences that badly affect the physical, mental, emotional health, work and daily schedules.
It's important to understand how excess screen time, and bad digital device usage habits can impact you, lets explore the same:
- It impacts mental and cognitive health
• Reduced focus, attention and concentration to complete a given task, due to constant multitasking and consumption of excess digital content.
• Overexposure to fast-paced digital media can contribute to restlessness and hyperactive behavior, particularly in children.
• Reliance on digital devices for storing information can weaken memory retention, as individuals may become less inclined to remember details, relying instead on devices.
- Impacts physical health
• Posture Problems due to bad posture and sitting hunched over device for long causing back and neck pain.
• Exposure to the blue light emitted by screens can interfere with the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, leading to poor sleep quality and insomnia.
• Weight gain and weaker muscles due to excess sitting and less or no physical activity.
- Imbalanced/unhealthy life style
• Excess screen time effects routines and affects wake-up time, sleep time, food time, personal hygiene etc., creating unhealthy/imbalanced life style practices.
- Social isolation and impaired social wellbeing
• While digital devices enable connectivity, they can also lead to social isolation when virtual interactions replace face-to-face communication.
• They can also impact interpersonal skills, reducing the quality of face-to-face interactions and potentially affecting relationships.
- Digital addiction and emotional issues
• Excess social media exposure causes anxiety and depression among teens and young adults, due to the pressures of social comparison and the pursuit of online validation.
• The pressure to be constantly connected and responsive, especially in work contexts, can lead to digital burnout, characterized by mental fatigue, decreased productivity, and emotional exhaustion.
It is hence essential that the adequate care is taken to make informed and good digitial device choices for overall wellbeing in the current digital world.