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Aug-Sep15
BODY&MIND
I
was recently asked to talk to teenagers about the use and misuse
of technology, and the impact that too much screen time might be
having on them. One question I posed was this: “In one hour, how
much time do you spend working on your device, and what do you
do for the rest of that time?”
They were very honest about their use of time on screen, and these
figures are unlikely to come as a surprise to you: on average, teens spend
10 to 15 minutes doing schoolwork – the rest is spent on social media,
chatting or gaming.
Teens
Screen
&
DR QURATULAIN ZAIDI of
MindNLife
discusses an ever-
increasing problem among young people today.
Not only is socialmediadistracting these teens
and impacting their learning, it is destructive for
them emotionally. How many friendships go
sour as a result of misunderstandings in text
messages? It’s been said that only 7 percent
of communication is about the words used; 93
percent of it is how you say the message – the
nuances in tonality and body language that
are missing from a written text message. Then
there’s the complexity of omitting punctuation,
which can lead to further ambiguity and
misunderstanding. Studies show that emotions
can be communicated much more accurately
and effectively when we are face to face and
able to see each other’s body language.
Teens are constantly distracted by the need
to be up to date with what’s going on on social
media; how popular they are is measured by
Good conversations
are as important for our
mental health as fruit
and vegetables are for
our physical health.