Ever since Reliance Jio came up with hard to beat easy on pocket 4G plans, India has seen a massive rise in the amount of average time Indians spend in front of screens. This rings alarms on the healthy vision of people.
Not just the eyesight, it affects the overall health of a person. Most people carry their phones to their beds. The last check ends up adding a minimum of thirty minutes of screen time.
Our brain has its own sleep/wake cycle which is disturbed by light emitting from your screen which is why people are often unable to get enough sleep causing fatigue, headaches, eye strain, irritability, and more.
According to a report an average Indian carries 78 apps on their phones. With so much in your phone, it is hard to restrict phone usage.
Here are some lifestyle hacks that will help you reduce your screen time.
Digital wellbeing application
This solution is within the problem. Apps like Unlock clock show you the number of times you unlock your phone. The number is displayed on your lock screen. This greatly helps in reducing unnecessary usage of phones. Looking at your phone is very much like looking at your watch. Sometimes you just want to see the time sometimes you just want to check your notification and sometimes it’s just a subconscious habit. Limiting yourself from using your phone unnecessarily will reflect on the amount of screen time.
Replace kindle with books
The ease and comfort of the kindle are true but the feel and smell of fresh or old rusted pages is no match. Kindle gives you the convenience of reading day & night. Exposing eyes to screen light in a dark room can be extremely harmful to your retina. It may also disturb your sleep cycle. To read a book you need proper light and unlike kindle, it doesn’t emit light which is why it is much safer for your eyes.
Screen time tracking
Latest smartphones provide their users with an inbuilt digital wellbeing feature that is very helpful in analyzing the amount of screen time. It tracks and provides you detailed analytics of how much time you have spent on which applications, whether it was productive or entertainment or social networking, hourly graph, weekly graph, or daily average.
Turn off your mobile data after dinner
It is mostly after dinner that people tend to spend long hours on social networking tools or watching movies as a part of relaxation. During these late hours, we tend to spend a long time in front of the screen. One easy way to this problem is to put your mobile data off after dinner. People who have practiced this concluded that it helped them spend quality time with their families, friends and it even helped them discover some personal time for themselves.
Take short breaks
Apart from the social networking or entertainment factor, there is also work factor, work that requires people to spend 6-9 hours in front of computer screens causing maximum damage to the retina. Using blue light filtering lenses is an effective way to protect your eyes from damage. Along with this, it is important to take short breaks every hour to relax your eye from constant exposure to light rays.
Set reminders while using the movies app
Well, we all know how difficult it is to pause an interesting episode or movie and leave it for another day. Many of us like to complete series at a stretch. That is a long hour in front of the screen. A simple trick is to set an alarm or a reminder on your phone, iPad, or your computer before playing your movie or show. Though it may sound easy, the remaining firm is the key. No snoozing!
Maintaining traditional habits
Even before the invention of mobile phones or other gadgets people had different ways to carry their day-to-day lives. Now we have all the contacts on our phones which earlier it was written in the telephone book. Earlier we wrote a letter replaced now by email. Luckily post offices still do postcards. Landline phones are now being replaced by smartphones. The only screen time in that period was television. But we agree that with so much development in technology it is challenging to follow traditional methods yet every little change results in a huge lifestyle difference. Inculcating small changes may relieve you from unnecessary screen time.
Replace gaming apps with real games
When it comes to gaming, we cannot forget PUBG, Fortnite, Call of duty all these games got the entire nation hooked to it. People spent hours and hours clinging to the phone. We all know the potential risks are not only for the eyes but the entire body. Replacing it with real games will not just save your eyesight but also make you active and fit.
Replace WhatsApp or Facebook with a call
A conversation over messenger can go on for a long time, often causing fatigue. It is rather easier and quicker to place a call and have verbal communication over text-based communication saving you a good amount of screen time.
Remove or limit lock screen notifications
Often, what tempts you to use your phone is notifications from myriad applications on your phone. Thereby, go to the settings and restrict unnecessary notifications to appear on your lock screen.
Wrap up
In the digital era, where things are rapidly moving online, it is quintessential to maintain healthy precautionary habits to look after health.
However, cutting down on screentime is one measure to protect the eyes. During work or when you cannot avoid using digital devices, it is better to take safety measures such as using Bluelight filter lenses. There are various ophthalmic lens manufacturers that offer these types of lenses. Ask your local opticians for options and choose good quality Bluelight blocking lenses for assured protection.
