How our phones monopolize our free time
By Tara Romero— tcrome@ucdavis.edu
“What did you do over break?” — the dreaded question for all of us social media addicts. You don’t want to admit that you spent the majority of your break watching fan-wars unfold on Twitter and clocking in for a six-hour night shift of unconscious scrolling on TikTok. Instead, you lie and say you read a book that you actually read three years ago (your class acquaintance doesn’t need to know that).
However, many of us are not as alone as we think in our high daily screen time hours. The average amount of time Americans spend on their phones is four hours and 37 minutes each day. Although we typically spread out our phone usage throughout the day, we end up spending almost a quarter of our waking hours glued to our phones.
We have all undoubtedly read or heard about the thousands of scientific studies that warn us of the negative effects of too much screen time. From mental health to digital eye strain to sleep quality, the studies point to limiting social media and screen usage. Despite knowing this information, we still open up TikTok and watch clips of a sitcom on two times the regular speed with a Subway Surfers playthrough in the background. Knowing the health effects of high screen time doesn’t necessarily deter us — these health effects feel distant and out of our direct control. We can acknowledge the risks, but think, “Well, maybe for other people, but it probably, definitely doesn’t affect me.”
Another argument against social media usage is that it makes us less productive — any time we spend on our phones is time we could be working. Perhaps, instead of watching two-hour long YouTube video essays, we could instead write our own essay that we have been procrastinating on. In America, we live with a constant “grind-set” mindset where, if we are not being productive, we are doing something wrong. In other words, any time spent on our phones is a “waste of time.” This argument has a point, but I think it is founded in the wrong perspective. People do need a block of time during which they are not productive: leisure time.
Leisure time is a portion of the day set aside for people to unwind from their various responsibilities. A 2015 study from UC Merced demonstrates how leisure time helps us improve our mental health and well-being. Although we are not being “productive” in the corporate sense, we are actively doing something that we love. Spending time on our hobbies helps us feel more fulfilled in our lives.
Phone usage and social media masquerade as “leisure time” but, in reality, do not make us feel any more fulfilled (as leisure time ideally should). Our phones take up all of our leisure time and leave us with no time in the day to do anything we actually care about.
We owe it to ourselves to cut down our screen time. Life goes by too fast for comfort and we lose so much time simply staring at a screen.
If we have an extra four hours and 37 minutes in the day, then we have so much more time to do all the things we want to do. Finally go to Mary L. Stephens Davis Branch Library and pick up that book you have been wanting to read. Learn how to perfect your favorite dish. Go for walks. Volunteer for your community. Get really into building puzzles for a month. Try out a new hobby and hate it, but that’s okay because at least now you know that you hate it. There are endless ways to spend your new time away from your phone.
Replacing your screen time with fulfilling leisure time will not only diminish the negative health effects of screen usage, but improve your overall well-being.
Now, when someone asks us what we did over break, we won’t feel ashamed in our answer — because we know that we spent our time doing something meaningful to us, whatever that might be.
Written by: Tara Romero— tcrome@ucdavis.edu
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.
