Gianna Rose Basit/ Staff reporter 

Electronics such as computers and phones have become an essential item that is used in our daily lives, they help us by getting tasks done easier and more proficiently. We depend on our devices so much that we don’t realize how much time we’re on them. 

 “I spend about three hours not counting school,” said grade 10 student, Yasmin Mojadidi “but if you include school, about seven hours.” she added. 

The average person uses their devices for about five to seven hours every day [including phones, tv, and computers], but we probably don’t think about how this affects our mental and physical health. 

When on devices, people tend to want to find the most comfortable position to be in when using them, but how is that going to affect our physical health? One of the most important things for our body when performing movements is our posture, we can seriously damage our bodies if we have bad posture. When using devices like their phones and computers, people tend to slouch to see the screens of the device, over time if not fixed, bad posture can cause back pain, rounded shoulders, headaches and spinal dysfunction. Therefore, it is important to have the proper ergonomics when using devices for prolonged periods. 

Our devices also emit blue light, blue light is also known as high energy visible or HEV light. Blue light is a type of light with short wavelengths emitting a higher energy. It does not harm us a whole lot, at least it doesn’t harm you in the way you think. Blue light can damage our sight, it damages the retina which can lead to eyestrain, blurry vision, dry eyes, and more when exposed. Surprisingly, blue light is beneficial to us, boosting attention and reaction time during the day helping us remember things better, but at night, this does not help us at all.  

“I don’t use my phone before bed. I don’t use it for at least an hour and a half to two hours before. I might check it, but I don’t use it, I don’t even watch TV, I find it hard to sleep if I do.” – Science teacher, Grace Jensen 

 People tend to scroll or watch something on a screen before bed, and by blue light fools our brain into thinking its daytime and making it harder to sleep because our body stops producing a sleep hormone called melatonin. Lack of sleep can cause a domino effect of problems, there are too many to count, a couple examples being low energy, focus and mood swings. Having problems with emotions can cause further damage to your mental health and relationships with others. 

Devices can help us communicate with others through calling, texting, social media, entertainment and more, this helps us form relationships and connections with others. In the past year and a half, this has been such an important thing to hold on to because of COVID-19.  

“It helps you stay in touch with friends and family, because it’s not like you’re going to be with them every day” Is what, Yasmine Mojadidi said on if devices helped during the pandemic. 

There is also a negative side to how electronics acted during the pandemic, given all you could really do was stay at home and be on them all day. 

“Negatively, I got to the place where I didn’t even look at Facebook anymore. I found that people were going overboard with the amount of information they wanted to know.” said Grace Jensen said about it, “I think it hurts people’s feelings when you’re connected with somebody, and you feel you got left out.” she added. 

Electronics are an evolutionary thing in general, they have mostly been very helpful for our generation, but there are pros and cons to everything, and as the saying goes, too much of something is bad for you. 

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