By John Hesse
Technology and screens have become more integrated into our daily lives and people are becoming more dependent on screens to function in society.
Screen addiction has recently been affecting more people at a higher rate. The long term lockdown caused by COVID-19 has only exacerbated this growing problem.
COVID-19 forced school districts, such as the Tucson Unified School District, to shut down by early March of 2020, and businesses soon followed. There were many controversial actions taken by federal and state officials along the way, but students eventually adapted to online education as screens became a necessity. Whether it be for classes on zoom, online communication, or online homework, screen usage skyrocketed.
Entertainment has also been a large contributor to the recent increase in screen usage. Entertainment platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok, have seen unprecedented success. In 2021, YouTube reported 2 billion active monthly users with an average of 1 billion hours watched daily while TikTok reported 689 million monthly active users.
As adolescents’ lives began revolving more around entertainment, they became disconnected from reality and some began slacking on school work and self-care. The Arizona Daily Star reported in December of 2020 that the number of failing grades shot up by 50% for students, grades 6 to 12, during the fall semester of the 2020-21 school year.
Screen addiction has recently been affecting more people at a higher rate. The long term lockdown caused by COVID-19 has only exacerbated this growing problem.
COVID-19 forced school districts, such as the Tucson Unified School District, to shut down by early March of 2020, and businesses soon followed. There were many controversial actions taken by federal and state officials along the way, but students eventually adapted to online education as screens became a necessity. Whether it be for classes on zoom, online communication, or online homework, screen usage skyrocketed.
Entertainment has also been a large contributor to the recent increase in screen usage. Entertainment platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok, have seen unprecedented success. In 2021, YouTube reported 2 billion active monthly users with an average of 1 billion hours watched daily while TikTok reported 689 million monthly active users.
As adolescents’ lives began revolving more around entertainment, they became disconnected from reality and some began slacking on school work and self-care. The Arizona Daily Star reported in December of 2020 that the number of failing grades shot up by 50% for students, grades 6 to 12, during the fall semester of the 2020-21 school year.
Linda Morey, an emergency department behavioral health nurse at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, says that screen addiction is the inability to function in daily life without access to a cellphone or laptop.
“It causes feelings of stress, sometimes intense stress, and fear of not having that as a tool or access to go through daily life,” Morey said.
In addition, it is becoming more socially acceptable for kids to receive a smartphone at an early age. According to a 2019 census conducted by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that seeks to educate families on safe technology, 53% of children in the United States receive a smartphone by age 11. Receiving a smartphone at a young age is not bad in itself, but according to Caring for Kids, an organization that provides advice about childrens’ health and wellbeing, it can lead to negative health effects such as sleep deprivation, attention issues, and aggressive behavior.
The World Health Organization declared video game addiction as an official disorder under its International Classification of Diseases in mid-2019. Whilst it is a start, the WHO has not budged on classifying screen addiction, even though it has similar, if not worse, symptoms than video game addiction.
The more people stare at screens, the more normalized screen addiction becomes. In January of 2021, Sara Fischer and Margaret Harding McGill of Axios reported that there was a 50% spike in screen usage as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown according to SuperAwesome, a company that focuses on children’s internet privacy. The normalization of screen addiction makes it harder to get it recognized as an official disorder.
The increasingly competitive internet content market has resulted in the growth of screen addiction. The COVID-19 lockdown resulted in a significant spike in screen usage and it has persisted ever since, making screen addiction more prevalent than ever before. As more COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, screen usage may see a drop when schools fully reopen and in-person education returns.
“It causes feelings of stress, sometimes intense stress, and fear of not having that as a tool or access to go through daily life,” Morey said.
In addition, it is becoming more socially acceptable for kids to receive a smartphone at an early age. According to a 2019 census conducted by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that seeks to educate families on safe technology, 53% of children in the United States receive a smartphone by age 11. Receiving a smartphone at a young age is not bad in itself, but according to Caring for Kids, an organization that provides advice about childrens’ health and wellbeing, it can lead to negative health effects such as sleep deprivation, attention issues, and aggressive behavior.
The World Health Organization declared video game addiction as an official disorder under its International Classification of Diseases in mid-2019. Whilst it is a start, the WHO has not budged on classifying screen addiction, even though it has similar, if not worse, symptoms than video game addiction.
The more people stare at screens, the more normalized screen addiction becomes. In January of 2021, Sara Fischer and Margaret Harding McGill of Axios reported that there was a 50% spike in screen usage as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown according to SuperAwesome, a company that focuses on children’s internet privacy. The normalization of screen addiction makes it harder to get it recognized as an official disorder.
The increasingly competitive internet content market has resulted in the growth of screen addiction. The COVID-19 lockdown resulted in a significant spike in screen usage and it has persisted ever since, making screen addiction more prevalent than ever before. As more COVID-19 restrictions are lifted, screen usage may see a drop when schools fully reopen and in-person education returns.