Screentime Affects Happiness and Sleep

Written by Karen Catchpole

Imagine laying down and scrolling on your phone. It’s been hours of mindless scrolling; it was once a beautiful day out and now it’s dark. You take a glance at the clock, realizing you’ve wasted hours. You feel horrible, yet your don’t get up. This is the case for thousands today. It’s likely that you or somebody you know has experienced unhappiness or depression before, as depression rates have increased by over 100% in a decade. Another number that’s skyrocketed is screen time usage. Could the two possibly be correlated? The Arizona Blue Cross says yes, “Disconnect to be happier and healthier.”

To try and get an idea of how screen time usage and happiness are related, I asked FHS students for their average daily screen time (in hours) and for how they would rate their overall happiness on a scale of 1-10 (1 being very unhappy, and 10 being very happy.) After reviewing the results, lower screen time seems to equate to more happiness. An anonymous FHS student states, “My page is filled with happy people, and people who have more money than me... it tends to make me feel less of myself...”.

Looking at screens for a long period of time can also cause headaches and sleep problems, which was discovered in a study by the National Library of Medicine. The study concluded that “smartphone use has been observed to increase headache duration and frequency in migraine patients.” With all of these potential health problems that cell phones can bring, it’s no surprise that it can tank your happiness as well.

Using screens, social media, and the internet in a controlled way can be very tough, especially for teenagers. So how can we try to limit our usage? Keep yourself busy with hobbies so there’s less time to be on your phone. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant- even simple things like exercising can help. Exercising actually happens to release endorphins, which is a natural mood booster. It helps with stress, anxiety, and sleep, according to Mayo Clinic.

Screens can be okay if used properly- but it’s tough to use it perfectly. It’s common to end up scrolling for hours without even realizing it. Try to keep screentime as low as possible and occupy yourself with hobbies. It could result in you being happier overall!