Computer use is highly addictive. My own digital use is not exactly typical because I've never used phones for any online activities. In fact my phone use only adds up to about 5 minutes a week in total which sounds damn good, but that figure glosses over all my other computer use.
I use my PC (running Linux Mint with a 32" screen) for several hours every day, and also regularly use my laptop (running Linux Mint with a 17" screen), as well as using my 12" Samsung tablet for several more hours most days.
I mention all those screen sizes because I hate small screens and that is another reason I very seldom use phones.
But it's not all random internet or social media addiction. For example I often use my tablet as a writing pad, using an S-Pen with the app MyScript converting my hand writing to text.
And I also use my tablet as a replacement for physical books, because I have around 12 thousand ebooks, so it's like having my own library, along with my own typist.
I think there is a solid difference between computer addictions like social media and gaming, and using computers effectively for things like research or writing.
But even so, all computer use clearly has negative side effects, both physical and mental, without even delving into what all the effects of the EMF exposure actually is.
It's easy to not even notice how much time we spend using computers. In the 90’s I spent zero time using computers, because I didn't have one, but these days I struggle to keep my combined computer use under four hours a day.
I'm not too bothered about time I spend offline because that is mostly under my own control and reading an ebook or using an S-Pen isn't really much different to reading a book or using a notebook.
But anything online is a potential problem. There is some handy stuff available online, but most of that shit is messing with my head!
If I was going to set a time limit what would it be?
If I'm awake for 16 hours a day, the. four hours a day would be a quarter of all my waking moments. Put like that, even that amount sounds excessive.
At this stage I'm not going to include offline time which can actually be quite productive and creative when used within reason, but online time I want to cap at four hours a day maximum.
Wifi use is even worse and I want to place strict limits on my use of WIFI - one hour a day really should be quite enough of that.
I'm going to have next month off all social media including blogging.
Youtube and Facebook are both filled with AI slop and I was unhappy about wasting around 30 mins a day looking at them. So to me these figures of adults spending over four hours a day on social media are mind boggling!
As with all things internet, it's hard to know if any of the stats are genuine because the majority of internet use is now AI, but the statistics being quoted for social media use are incredibly high.
If these figures are remotely accurate, this would all be extremely unhealthy.
Time Spent On Social Media Demographics:
Teenagers (aged 13 to 17) tend to spend the most time on social media compared to any age group as of this year.
On
average, teenagers spend around 8 hours and 39 minutes per day on
screens. Social media usage is their top activity during this.
Meanwhile, young adults (aged 18 to 29) spend around 7 hours and 22
minutes on their screens, and their top activity is social media usage.
Tweens
(aged 8 to 12) also have a significantly high screen time these days,
with an average of 5 hours and 33 minutes, up from 4 and 44 minutes a
couple of years back. However, their top activity is video streaming,
and social media comes second.
Adults (30 to 49) and older adults
(50+) spend the least time on social media. On average, adults spend
around 4 to 5 hours on screen.
https://newvisiontheatres.com/time-people-spend-on-social-media
