If you scroll 3 hours a day per week, it’s equal to another school year, says expert
⭐️HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW⭐️
- Sophia Molchanov, 15, is giving up her phone this summer for the second time.
- Josephine Maharaj, 17, has given up social media since the pandemic.
- Both teens encourage others to do the same.
- So, how much time does screen time take away from you?
- Keep reading to find out what a break can do for you. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Ever asked a parent to take away your phone?
Usually parents are the ones taking away phones — without being asked first.
Last summer, 15-year-old Sophia Molchanov from London, Ontario, did just that, and this summer she’s doing it again.
It’s all to “reset” from social media and screens.
“You’re following random people that only show the positive sides of their life, not the difficult sides,” she told CBC Kids News.
“So taking time off from that and focusing on yourself is really great and I’d recommend it to everyone.”Sophia isn’t alone.
Josephine Maharaj, 17, from Ottawa, Ontario, stopped using social media completely in 2020.
Both teens filled their time with hobbies and offline activities.
Though they sometimes miss out on things, both say stepping back has had positive impacts.
Screen use that is fast-changing and constant activates brain systems that can result in fogginess, trouble deciding and irritability, says one expert. (David Gray/AFP/Getty Images)
Josephine cut back in 2020 and hasn’t looked back since
When the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown began in 2020, Josphine deleted all social media apps from her phone.
“Being online just didn’t make me happy,” she told CBC Kids News.
“Nothing that I consumed left an impact on me. It almost felt like I was just consuming things out of routine.”
She’s stayed off mainstream apps like Instagram and TikTok for more than six years, keeping only Goodreads and YouTube for consumption rather than posting.
Josephine wakes up to the sound of an alarm clock every morning, and she listens to her favourite music on her CD player.
Although she sometimes misses out on inside jokes related to online trends, she says the trade-off is worth it.
“Not being online serves as a conversation point, because people usually end up having questions,” she said.
“It’s a way for me to reach out to people when they ask about how I spend my time, and we get to bond over other things other than the latest trends.”
Instead of using apps, Josephine Maharaj, 17, listens to music on her CD player and sticks to email and TV for her entertainment. (Images submitted by Josephine Maharaj)
How Sophia balances screens and her personal life
Sophia balances school, work and extracurriculars, like sports and working on a podcast.
Last summer, she completed a one-week phone cleanse, and she still takes short breaks from her phone, especially during exams.
“I totally didn’t touch my phone for a week,” she said.
“I asked my parents to take my phone, just to kind of see what would happen.”
She said giving up a smartphone entirely isn’t realistic for her schedule.
To manage her time, Sophia uses an app called Opal to set boundaries for her phone usage. It helps her restrict her social media scrolling to 30 to 45 minutes every day.
She wanted to be more present and learned that social media apps are designed to keep people hooked.
“Phones and the algorithms on social media are really built to kind of suck you in,” she said. “They trap you in the cycle of doom scrolling.”
Her break made a clear difference.
“I spent a lot more time being present with myself and with my family and my friends,” she said. “It had a positive effect on my mental health.”
For Sophia, stepping away from her phone also brought along some downsides.
She felt she missed connecting with friends, especially because it was summer.
Sophia Molchanov, third from the left, is a member of the Youth Advisory Council that is part of HEAL (Human Environments Analysis Laboratory) at Western University, where she and other teens run a podcast about mental health. (Image credit: HEAL Youth Advisory Council)
Why experts say this could be a good thing
A screen time reset could be a good idea, according to experts.
Using screens that show a lot of fast-changing content lights up many brain systems at once, said Emma Duerden, who is a professor at Western University in London, Ontario.
She’s a researcher who studies how the brain develops during childhood.
That constant activation can lead to mental fatigue, fogginess, trouble deciding and irritability.
Duerden said that if you scroll three hours a day, seven days a week, this adds up to almost 180 school days — the average length of the Canadian school year.
“What could you do with your time if you had a full other grade?” she said.
Simple changes to your life can make a massive difference, said Gary Goldfield, a scientist who works with children at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa.
He suggested cutting down on screen time by setting daily limits, turning off notifications and banning phones during meals or before bed.
It also helps to plan fun activities like walks or hobbies so you don’t automatically reach for your phone, said Goldfield.
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