We've seen so much reporting of the dangers of too much screen time that we felt we should conduct a case study of our own to help measure its impact here at StressBustingExpert™, so we could report our informed personal conclusions to our users.
So in the interest of research, MikeyM™ has spent a month renewing acquaintance with FIFA2020 on his previously much treasured Nintendo Switch.
We based the parameters of the exercise around the premise that most experts recommend adults spend no more than 2 hours per day on screen time (a recommended estimate we think the majority of gamers and workers are, by the way, far above).
MikeyM™ has therefore spent a minimum of 2 hours per day playing in a mix of solid chunks and intermittent sessions over a period of one month in addition to usual daily laptop work, having a little more screen time on some days (as is typical in the case of adults and children alike), but never less than the 2 hour maximum recommendation.
In all other respects, we lived life as close to normal as possible
Through this one month period, MikeyM™ kept a diary note of how he felt and, reading back on it now, here are some of the key themes that emerge:-
● right at the top of the list was a heightened degree of overall general anxiety and "jitters" in the day to day
● secondly, LouLoU™ reports, there has been an increased detachment bordering on social withdrawal (any brownie points in the bag there lost)
● then the overall quality of sleep has decreased and in particular the speed taken to get to sleep
● ability to pick up or concentrate on other activities such as posting decreased steadily, as did interest in those other activities
● there was a gradual increase in aches and pains in the wrist, shoulder and arm areas which we can only put down to holding the same posture for long periods
● a combination of the above took its toll on the relationship between MikeyM™ & LouLoU™ in even such a short period as a month, notably as a result of less communication or empathy on MikeyM™'s part and a mild decline in care taken in his appearance.
What was perhaps most striking about the case study is that MikeyM™ didn't, for the most part, realise the above changes were occurring and where he did, he was happy to put them down to other environmental factors such as increased workload and poor summer weather.
And that was DESPITE the fact that he was aware of the risks when the case study commenced through prior research!
Our conclusions drawn are therefore unanimous on this important social issue.
Namely, that from a StressBusting™ perspective, it is simply imperative to stick within the recommended guidelines when it comes to screen time, whether as an adult or even more particularly when it comes to children.
We hope you found the outcome of this experiment to be of use.
HAPPY, SAFE SCREEN TIME
LouLoU™&