Last week I talked about device usage in public and the stress that it causes me. Today, I want to discuss screen time. If you have an iPhone you probably get the Screen Time pop up notification once a week. If you go into your settings and select Screen Time it will break down the time you spend on your phone and will break it down by app. It is very interesting data to see what you spend your time on. I will admit that my screen time has increased during these colder and darker winter months. I pick up my phone often to check texts, emails, facebook, news and the random Google searches to find out answers to the latest question that pops into my mind. Looking at yesterday's screen time shows a total of 2h 24m with 54m on Social, 33m on Information and Reading and 20m on Productivity & Finance. My most used breakdown is Facebook 36m, News 23m, Messages 18m, Safari 16m, Checkbook 11m, Mail 4m and other smaller usage on various apps. I can't imagine what the screen time would be for those who are on Instagram, TikTok and other social sites. It doesn't feel like I spent 2+ hours on my phone, but I guess every little pickup of the phone adds up.
Since our phone holds so much power and info at our fingertips, I wonder how much screen time is too much? I do necessary things on my phone such as check news and balance my checkbook and other daily things. I just added to my screen time by searching the average adult screen time. Wow, I am shocked with the answer of 7 hours with US adults often exceeding 8-9 hours. Here is the breakdown by age:
Age 16-24 around 7.5 hours
Age 24-44 is 7+ hours
Age 55-64 is 5-6 hours
The search also broke down by Smartphone, TV and Computers with 2.5 hours on phone and 4.5 TV streaming. That breakdown would explain the 7 hour average above when you combine phone and TV, although many use the phone to stream. Another article says you spend 17 years of your adult life online. I've seen estimates before about how much of our lives are spent waiting in lines or in traffic. I think the online years far outpace the waiting years!
If your read my last post, you know my wife and I enjoy streaming on our TV. I would guess we watch 2-3 hours per night unless we watch a longer movie and then it may jump to a 4 hour night. We catch the evening news for about 30m to an hour and then watch a couple of episodes of various shows.
In the summer I listen to music on Spotify or Amazon Music. I wonder if that counts as screen time? That doesn't seem to qualify as screen time to me as I'm not utilizing the screen and simply just listening, just as I would a radio. I'm sure there are other apps, such as those used for driving navigating, that should not count as screen time in my opinion.
What do you spend screen time on? Are you on social media a lot? Do you spend time on emails, text and news? What time do you consider necessary and what time do you consider entertainment? How much screen time do you average a day on your phone? How much time watching streaming services or TV programming? Does your screen time and TV decrease in the Spring and Summer when the weather is nicer, or do you maintain a pretty even usage? If retired, do you think your phone screen time has increased as a form of entertainment that you didn't have time for when working?
When spending time on screen time just remember one thing, use those earbuds and headphone when in public!
No comments:
Post a Comment