VIEWPOINT

We are all more plugged in now than ever and cannot concentrate on one task alone.

Students spend more and more time online for personal use and academic courses that are moving more online.

A National Institutes of Health study found that “when we switch between tasks, we lose the benefits of automaticity and efficiency that come from staying focused on a single task.”

Whether we take online classes or rely on the internet for homework and assignments, we should take regular breaks from using social media or watching TV.

The adverse effects of technology, such as over reliance, addiction, antisocial behavior, and living in our own for you page echo chamber, can have a significant impact on us mentally, emotionally, and academically

The term “touch grass” has recently become popular on social media, reminding people to stop living online and get outside and enjoy nature.

After being a college student for three semesters, it’s become apparent from classroom discussions that many of us are in the same boat of spending too much time online.

Research is showing that internet addiction is causing sleep problems in students and affecting their grades. This makes sense because if I go to sleep at 3 a.m. and wake up for school at 7 a.m., there is no way I will be able to focus and take in any new information correctly.

In another study, I found in the NIH, “Sleep quality has been linked to internet addiction, and 75% of the variation in Internet addiction scores was explained after controlling for the effects of sex, smoking, place of living, time spent online by the student, and GPA level.”

While keeping all the other factors in mind, lack of sleep due to internet addiction shows the most significant share of all those factors.

While learning about and using the internet is vital to social and economic progress, we must set and stick to boundaries to break from social media and screens. One way to do this is first to acknowledge a problem and then, based on that, find out exactly how big of a problem it is by utilizing screen time on your smartphone, which is a great place to start when thinking about unplugging.

Once I realized that my screen time is insanely high on and off campus, I was able to set timings and regulate which apps I could use and for how long.

Social interactions are also done more online now than before. We have this online global world that allows us to interact with people everywhere at the tip of our fingers. We never even have to leave our homes to make friends, and that can become problematic if that’s the only place you can build relationships.

Even as an introvert, I feel better when I’m physically around family and friends than when we talk virtually. Don’t get me wrong; keeping up with extended family across the U.S. or overseas is cheaper and timelier on WhatsApp or social media. But there are spaces and events in our community that we need to explore.

Speaking as a parent, I know that my kids need to learn how to use technology for school, but 2 and 3 grades are too early to make it the primary way to learn. I’ve noticed that even younger kids’ handwriting and their ability to read cursive have deteriorated and may not even exist.

Even teens need to learn more social skills to survive, but we see kids having trouble asking office or store clerks or service workers basic questions because they have no practice outside their bubble.

Unplugging and connecting with the world around us will improve our lives academically and socially.