Too Much Tech
How excess screen time during COVID-19 may be affecting your health
Victoria Traxler | 05/14/2020
Federico Michelini spent two weeks in self-isolation prior to the start of Italy’s country-wide lockdown. He has been isolated for 50 days, and just last week began to wander outside his home in Alassio, Italy as restrictions in the country lifted slightly.
“Even where I am, there's not many people walking around, so that was quite alienating,” Michelini said.
Michelini, an entrepreneur focused on sustainable e-commerce from Milan, found himself dependent on technology in a way he had not been before. It became a constant presence in his daily routine.
As someone normally not engaged with technology outside of purposes for research and work now he was spending “95% of his day” looking at a screen. Since the jump in screen time, Michelini has been feeling the effects of the constant staring and sitting. After the second week, his eyes felt “tired” and “sore”
“I am surrounded by a screen almost from when I wake up to when I go to bed,” Michelini said.
With people more reliant than ever on technology to stay connected, some worry about the long term impacts of excessive screen usage.
Michelini describes his relationship with technology during quarantine
Streaming, messaging, gaming and e-commerce are at all-time highs in the midst of the pandemic, according to various reports from internet providers, streaming services and gaming services.
As states are deciding whether or not to extend stay-at-home orders, experts are recommending people be wary of the relationships they have built with technology during this time period.
Michelini's screen activities range from research and work-related video calls to spending time on social media, watching videos on beginner’s yoga and streaming documentaries.
Technology is filling the gaps of the COVID-19’s social distancing and lockdown measures in many ways. During the pandemic, many U.S. adults have had online social gatherings, watched a concert or livestream or participated in an online fitness class, according to Pew Research. Additionally, one in four adults have used video calls for work.
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Globally, as expected, people’s use of screen devices has increased substantially. Considerable increases in screen usage was found in the Digital 2020 April Global Statshot report from Hootsuite, We Are Social and Kepios
Social media use, playing video games, watching esports and time spent watching shows and films on streaming services grew significantly. Providers like Verizon and Comcast even suspended data caps to help with the surge of internet usage.
Source: Hootsuite / We Are Social
Data from Digital 2020: April Global Statshot
Netflix, Zoom, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp are among the top 10 global downloads during COVID-19, along with other apps including games to entertainment, according to the Digital 2020 study.
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As the dependency on technology grows so can the potential for the negative effects of long-term screen use, according to exercise physiologist and chiropractor Dr. Monika Buerger.
Buerger works with children and adults on learning attention, memory, behavior and mood issues and neurological disorders ranging from attention-deficit disorder to autism. She believes that impacts of technology on the brain and its communication patterns are not something to take lightly.
“What we do see with technology is trouble with attention, trouble with memory and
trouble with social engagement,” Buerger said. “We know those in the neuroscience world. Those are three categories largely looked at in regards to adverse effects of technology, attention, memory and social engagement.”
Entertainment and media companies reports are reporting concurring data with technology usage reports. Steam, a popular online gaming platform, gained 4.6 million users in March, a growth of 24% in one month. This brought it to an all-time user peak of 24.5 million users, according to the Steam Database.
Dr. Monika Buerger
Photo from Seeking Health Educational Institute
Steam user growth within the last six months
Wyatt West, a student at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, spends much of his quarantine on a screen. During quarantine, he begins his day scrolling through social media, switches to streaming websites to watch his favorite show, then spends hours on his laptop doing work for school and later watches a movie or show with his family.
Most of all, West enjoys socializing online with friends through his gaming console. He logs on to game around 7 p.m. from anywhere up to 2 a.m. Five to seven days a week for the last eight weeks this has been West’s way to unwind and connect.
“I don't think it would be very hard just because I'm used to the off-on of playing Xbox,” West said. “I played a lot more in the summer than I do during the school year.”
West online gaming on May 14 during Virginia's stay-at-home order. Photo: Wyatt West
Buerger worries that the immense amount of time most people are spending on electronic devices will adversely affect overall attention, memory and mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.
“When we're on technology, we're getting a lot of visual stimulation and our attention shrinks,” Buerger said. “We think we're multitasking, but when we get off the technology, they've actually shown that multitasking skills are worse because these sensory systems need to be in balance.”
While on laptops, people’s attention can switch between content as quickly as every 19 seconds, one study found. Another study in 2019 found that extensive Internet use affected verbal intelligence, memory and brain development.
Both West and Michelini estimated they spend an average of 10 hours looking at screens a day.
“If we're spending an average of eight to 10 hours a day on technology, it is extremely adverse to brain development and then brain function in the older years,” Buerger said.
Matt Miles, a high school social studies teacher in Northern Virginia, investigated technology overuse and misuse with students for his book Screen Schooled, co-written with his colleague Joe Clement. He has concerns over the impacts of excessive screen-time during quarantine.
The majority of citizens of the U.S. and U.K. who were consuming more media and video games planned to continue to do so, according to a study from the Global Web Index. The Digital 2020 Snapshot study found that many users planned on continuing their increased streaming, social media use, or gaming following quarantine.
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“Our social emotional wellbeing is very
much dependent on being physically in
proximity with other people,” Miles said. “Obviously a lot of people are struggling with this is kind of the setup we have right now where we're just superficially connecting with others.”
Source: Hootsuite / We Are Social
In his research on technology overuse, Miles found that most social media apps and games are designed in a way conducive with famed psychologist B.F Skinner’s operant conditioning theory. In other words, he believes most apps are designed to reward use and punish avoidance.
He found that Snapchat streaks had this effect, where the loss of consecutive days messaging another user, or a “streak”, would result in the loss of a streak, or a sort of consequence for not being on the app.
“Every game today has that as a blueprint, and it’s powerful,” Miles said.
Studies have also warned against the overuse of social media due to correlated effects between social media and depression, anxiety or feelings of isolation. Young adults that use social media more often feel socially isolated than those who use social media less often, according to one study.
“What is it going to look like in a year from now when we're no longer in the quarantine?” Miles said. “We are essentially giving all of ourselves a pass on technology use.”
Michelini describes habits he noticed developing with his use of technology.
Habitual development of screen overuse may be a potential possibility for those able to adhere to the stay at home orders. The average time to develop a habit is 66 days, according to research. But, findings ranged with habit development occurring after 18 days.
In states where stay at home orders will be enforced for over two months, such as Virginia or California, technology-based habit development is a considerable possibility. Over two months of self-isolation, stay at home orders and lockdowns could create an environment where technology dependency becomes habitual.
“I worry that you're going to see a lot of social anxiety and the other types of anxiety disorders are already just so pervasive,” Miles said. “I'm fearful of what happens when we finally return.”
Other health effects like myopia, high cortisol levels and neck strain can also arise from technology overuse. However, there are numerous ways to mitigate these effects.
Buerger recommends taking “brain breaks” every 30 minutes. These breaks include simply getting off of a screen, talking walks, going outside and movement in general. The desire to reconnect with one another is what makes us human, and may help the transition to whatever the new normal becomes.
“We as humans want to be connected, so social engagement is huge,” Buerger said. “We can hope that that reconnection can help mitigate some of this need for other other ways to get that [technology] high.”
Michelini said he was most excited for the moment of reconnection. The dependency on technology to connect and to engage reinforced his value of physical contact.
“One common feeling that probably is cliche, but just the physical contact I think everybody's missing that,” Michelini said. “I'm literally thinking about hugging my friends, the moment when I’m going to see them and it's not going to be just saying hello.”
Miles found a similar sentiment from his high school students as well. Students were reaching out to him saying they missed attending class, something Miles never thought he would hear.
“It’s a great time for people to take stock in what they’re losing with a digital existence,” Miles said. “And maybe appreciate those moments going forward once we no longer need this just to get through the day.”