Learn how the time we spend looking at screens can affect our brains and why it’s important to learn to limit screen time.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Digital technology has transformed our lives, from how we work and shop to how we get entertained and interact with our friends.
Computers, smartphones, and tablets make life easier, but all the time we spend on them could be affecting our brains.
Just as you manage your money or your diet, it’s important to manage your screen time.
Digital technology has shortened our attention spans to, by some estimates, just 8 seconds – less than that of a goldfish!
It may also make us more forgetful by bombarding our brains with too much information.
Reduce this overload, and you may have an easier time committing new ideas to memory – and keeping them there.
Limiting time on your devices can also head off another problem: Screen addiction.
Every time we see that we’ve gotten a text message or social media “like,” there’s a release of the brain chemical dopamine, which makes us feel pleasure.
To get more, we keep coming back and checking our devices again and again.
This pull can be even bigger for young people, since the impulse-control center of their brains, known as the prefrontal cortex, isn’t fully developed.
Whatever your age, turn off notifications and other digital distractions when you need to concentrate.
Set aside a few hours of screen-free time each day.
Read a book.
Go for a walk.
The less time you spend on devices, the more you’ll see that the virtual world can never measure up to the real one.