I thought my screen time was bad before social distancing, but it has gotten even worse since being home. According to my weekly screen time report, my screen time average has been increasing through the roof! I went from about 2ish hours a day of total screen time on my phone to averaging about 5ish hours a day. WHAT THE F***. I only noticed this after getting a notification about my weekly report when it told me my usage went up 70% in the past week. I further investigated my usage and saw that I spent 17 hours in one week just on social media and 22 hours the next week! I basically wasted 1 entire day of my life by being on social media in one week. And I did this for 2 weeks. I have so much more important and more valuable things I could have been doing with that time! What is even scarier is that this report was only for my screen time on my phone! I have been on my laptop all day every day in addition to my phone, finishing up my classes online, watching Netflix, and online shopping. I stare at a screen all day long. I feel like I am wasting away some of my valuable time that I could be spending elsewhere like reading a paper book, playing my guitar, playing with my dogs, DIY projects, or anything that has nothing to do with a glowing screen! I know I looked at a screen a lot while studying on campus, but it has gotten way worse because I do not have scheduled events, like in person class, work, or other events, where I don’t need my laptop or phone out. Being in quarantine is the major reason why I have increased my screen time and it is my social distancing virus. I used to be really good about putting my phone down at around 10:30 before I went to bed around 11, but now I have gotten into the bad habit of laying I bed and scrolling through social media for what feels like 10 minutes but ends up being an hour, right before I fall asleep.  It gives me headaches, ruins the amount and quality of my sleep, and increases my stress levels more than they already are. I am ready for online classes to be over and everything to reopen so I can lock my phone and laptop in a closet for an entire week and detox myself from social media, buzzfeed quizzes, Netflix, and blue light.Â
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Scranton chapter.