Table of Centents
Author: Ting Okamura
Nowadays, our digital devices provide us with countless entertainment and social platforms at the touch of a button. It is very easy to become addicted. To some extent, we are all aware of the excessive time spent using these devices, but using these digital devices can cost you a lot more than just your time. As you use your devices more and more, they can also prevent you from achieving your goals, whilst slowly eating away your health. Here are some reasons why excessively using your digital devices is harming both your physical and mental health:
1. It steals time and opportunity
How many times have you launched an app to just watch a clip, but end up hours later having watched many clips? When you spend a lot of time engaging in meaningless internet browsing, you’ve wasted time that you could’ve put towards achieving something.
2. You develop bad habits
Each time you struggle to put down your device eats away at your self-discipline. You might start drowning yourself in negative thoughts like “I can’t live without my mobile”, “I cannot quit” and/or “I am not able to control myself”.
3. You give up more easily.
Your passions and interests take a backseat because you are not prioritising your time well. In reality, you’ve just become lazy and justify it with “I am busy with my mobile/PC”.
4. Your social skills decline
Only socialising via digital devices causes one to gradually lose interest in meeting people/friends in person. Over time, you’ll start to notice important habits, such as maintaining proper eye contact, take a dive and affect your social interactions.
5. You’ll lose sleep
Your priorities have shifted, and you’ll sacrifice a healthy night’s sleep in order to play or browse more.
6. It may lead to chronic pain
Without even noticing it, you may be maintaining a particular posture or position for a long time as your use your device. This creates many body aches, which, if not corrected over time, can develop into chronic pain.
7. You may lose touch with reality
Immersing yourself in the internet world for too long can cause you to lose the feeling of reality.
8. You’re at risk for severe medical issues
Your sedentary lifestyle leads to bad metabolism and weight gain. There have been many cases where people die in internet cafés due to playing online games for days without moving.
9. It can cause numbness and negative emotions
Dopamine is well known as the ‘happy hormone’ that the body produces when you have enough sleep, an appropriate amount of exercise and you’re achieving your goals. Using digital devices for too long can increase the risk of imbalanced dopamine release. Over time, a lack of dopamine can result in feelings of numbness, pessimism and boredom with life.
How we use digital entertainment in our everyday life is a serious matter. In order to live a meaningful and creative life, let’s use our devices in a way to enrich, instead of harm, our lives.