During these challenging times, we seem to have a greater relationship with our devices to fill the void of our boredom, especially in the beginning of the pandemic when the entire world was on lockdown and all we could do was binge watch Tiger King on Netflix, make whipped coffee and do the latest Tik-Tok trends. With the pandemic having no light at the end of the tunnel anytime soon, it is high time for all of us to reconsider the amount of time that is taken out of our day to mindlessly scroll and think of better alternatives to occupy our time.
With all schools and colleges being remote learning now, there’s no hiding the fact that we are all on our devices for the majority of the day.
PR Newswire created a poll surveying 2,000 parents of school aged children for more information regarding screen time with both themselves and their children. The surveys concluded that “69 percent feel “addicted to their phone.” We can probably all admit that we are somewhat addicted to our phones.
It’s hard to not mindlessly scroll especially with so much happening around the world everyday. They also concluded that “62 percent admit to spending too much time on their cell phone while with their kids.” With the pandemic, it has become difficult to spend that quality time with your loved ones. However, when we are with them it is hard not to break your habits of looking at your devices.
Remote learning has also increased the screen time in both children and adults. Working from home has also increased adults device usage with zoom meetings and typing out emails.
Online learning can be a struggle for some students. For culinary NECC student Mercedes Rodriguez says “I wish that I had classmates and teachers I could meet with and lean on when I need help.”
Rodriguez also says it is challenging to get ahold of teachers sometimes for help or guidance. Online learning is almost new to everyone and it can be a hard transition for many people. Kacy Florence, a student at Middlesex Community College says “I had a hard time navigating through my online course since I didn’t have anybody around that knew how to navigate the website.”
To help reduce our device usage, we can think of ways to occupy our time that will benefit our day to day lives. Rodriguez states that she “purchased a mixer and got into baking.”
Cooking and baking can become a fun and relaxing for some people like Mercedes herself. Florence says that she has been spending more time with her family since they just adopted a puppy in the middle of quarantine. Just being able to find that new hobby or passion for something that you’ve been wanting to do will help reduce your screen time and quality of life.
