As phones become inevitable parts in people’s lives, problems of overusing phones are capturing media’s attention. According to The Telegraph, Teens spend on average almost 4 hours daily on their phones and The Washington Post wrote that 7½ hours are spent on media in general whether on their phones, TV, or computer. 1 out of 4 teens own phones that allow them to stay ‘connected’, according to The Pew Research Center.

Overusage of phones and other electrical devices, like the overuse of body parts or alcohol, is harmful to your body, physically and mentally. Looking at a screen for too long causes eye strain, headaches, blurry vision, and dry or itchy eyes. Most people sit for a long amount of time using their phone, and it impacts your cardiovascular system and metabolism, leading to the increased risk of diabetes, some cancers, arthritis, heart attacks, and insomnia.

A Life of Productivity stated, “TVs, computers, smartphones, and tablets all emit a lot of “blue” light, which prevents your body from releasing melatonin, a chemical in your body that helps you sleep. This holds especially true when you use your devices in the two to three hours before you go to bed.” Not only does the overuse of phones harm people’s health physically, but also mentally. Withdrawal symptoms can occur through technology addiction.

“Research from Swansea and Milan Universities also found that heavy Internet users suffered from withdrawal similar to those experienced by drug users when they went offline” TIME reported.

Younger children when spending 4 or so hours on devices also could lead to behavior changes like anxiety or depression, according to mercola.com. This can completely change how they develop and is unnatural.

Through experience as a student, lack of sleep and feeling tired is detrimental to one’s grade and focus. The other symptoms as well can also lower athletic performances, especially if they are long-term effects. If the addiction factor is added, students get distracted from school and extracurriculars. Like smoking, the withdrawal symptoms are an issue as well because the yearning also causes students to become distracted and lose their concentration.

“I don’t use my phone as much as I used to”says Ryan Chew, a freshmen at La Canada High School. He continues by saying, “A lot of that time wasted was from social media. After I stopped using it, the amount of time spent on my phone dropped quite a bit.” Ryan also agrees on how a smartphone can become a distraction.

With that said, here are a few helpful ways to prevent these health issues. The best way to prevent these effects, obviously, is through cutting down time and doing other activities. However, even simply just standing up and stretching occasionally or looking off of your screen for a few minutes at a time can also help prevent the physical strains. Another way to limit your screen time is to make yourself busy. The more time you spend doing other things, the less time you have to use on a phone, computer, etc. Creating ‘challenges’ also help a great deal when setting a goal to reduce the amount of time on your phone. For instance, if you have a device that does not have a long-lasting battery, try this challenge where you have to make it through a whole day with only one full charge (no partial charges). Just plug it to a charger when you go to sleep and then in the morning when it is fully charged, unplug the cord and put it elsewhere. Even if overusage doesn’t seem like a problem now, it will later.


<Andrew Chae, La Canada High School 9th Grade>