In the article, “How to Improve your Digital Wellness, according to experts” it states, “Digital wellness is about limiting the use of technologies that create anxiety, stress, and mood changes,” says John Torous, MD. This article starts out by stating that we on average spend 10.5 hours a day altogether on the devices we have. While this may not be true for everyone it does state that technology has taken over our lives and we need to learn how to balance it. Some experts did a study on young adults and it stated that the more time they spent on social media they felt more socially confined. People are trying to get away from being on their phones but it just isn’t working that they have names that fear or anxiety, nomophobia.
Apple is trying to think of a way to get peoples usage of technology under control and so that it isn’t taking over their lives. Apple had an update that included a digital wellness feature that monitored how much time was spent on the device no matter what you were doing on it. You can set time limits for apps you wanted and for how long your phone was unlocked. Although this doesn’t help everyone it is an improvement and way to get people to try and cut back from technology. Setting goals is the way to start and not everyone can do it on their own, the article states, “There’s something very powerful in telling a friend or family member what your goals are. It creates a social contract, something that is often stronger than your own willpower.”
In my opinion, I think this article was important to read and was eye opening as well. As a future educator to the youth technology is something that we are using more and more of. While I am now currently working as a paraprofessional in a school, each child K-6 have an iPad for themselves to use throughout the school day, I do believe that they need this for use of specific resources when it comes to subjects being taught but I also think the use of them are abused quite often. While being an educator, I can change that and have limited time for technology to show that to help our digital wellness. While when it comes to the children going home many parents tend to position screens in front of their children’s face to get their child to let the parent do things around the house or calm down their child. With that they don’t have a limit of how much screen time the child can have so it is hurting them then.
Reference:
Mateo, A., & Mateo, A. (2019, September 4). How to Improve Your Digital Wellness, According to Experts. Retrieved from https://www.health.com/mind-body/digital- wellness
