Every week in the New York Times, the newspaper selects a few different writing prompts for current students to talk, write, and debate about. This week, students got the opportunity to talk about how they felt about their screen time usage during the entirety of the coronavirus pandemic. There were many varying opinions that were discussed.
One common thing that all students can agree with is that due to the situation, everyone’s overall screen time went up throughout the entire pandemic. Even after kids slowly started to go back to school, no more than every other things such as other extracurricular activities and homework/tests took place in a virtual setting. Many students talked about how bad it was for their health, how many saw changes to their sleeping habits and even their bodies due to a limit of daily exercise.
Other things that were discussed were that the electronics kids were using became addicting to some students, and a few got eye problems, headaches, and even bad concentration from using it. One student named Tatia Goldberg even had to use blue light glasses, the light rays that are in electronic devices, in order to refrain from getting headaches from the screen.
It is quite obvious that based on the majority of responses from students about this important topic, the use of electronics during the pandemic is becoming a real problem for many and it doesn’t look like it is going back to normal anytime soon. Even after the pandemic is over, it is likely that the use of electronic devices will play a more prominent role in the society of many elementary through college students. Hopefully from this article, there can be somewhat of a solution found to try and best limit the usage of electronic devices in the everyday school classroom. What do you think, is the largely increasing screen time for students a bad thing, or is it something that should remain as it currently is?
Hi Hunter,
ReplyDeleteI think that kids have way too much screen time now and it is very addicting. I have started taking up new hobbies to get me away from my phone, and it has been helpful. I have started learning how to embroider, and crochet (sometimes with plastic bags) I think the most important thing for us as teenagers to do right now is find a healthy balance between screen time and off screen time that works well for us.
Hi Hunter,
ReplyDeleteI do think that it can be very addicting to look at a screen especially if it his something interesting. I think that during this time there is no other choice. We all have to adapt to new things and be able to deal with them. I personally tried the blue light glasses, but they didn't really work for me, rather they gave me a headache. Other people find them very useful. I think there are pros and cons to screen time. It has been very beneficial for school, but the young kids are getting too addicted as I see in my younger sister. We really need to limit her... I think there is a a limit that each person should have.
Hey Hunter, I will be the first to admit I am addicted to technology. It's easy to blame my headaches and lack of sleep on staring at my computer for school all day, but all my free time is more or less spent on my phone as well. There's just nothing better to do. I don't have hobbies really. I wish I never downloaded any mobile games especially. So many of them are time consuming and addicting. I would support a limit for sure.
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