A high school student has around the average screen time of 7 hours daily. That is about 106 days of the year put into scrolling. 106 days put into using your fingers to swipe, tap and repeat. 

The dangers are so obvious, yet our world is too oblivious to notice them.

You may be working out your fingers while looking through the latest trends, but the harm to your physical body is such a stark contrast to the dopamine you get. Put into perspective: your head on its own is a whopping 11 pounds on average. Your body naturally over time learns how to hold your head upright, but while bent over a phone, the lower angle of your head causes it to put more and more strain onto your neck until it leads to neck damage, causing many people confusion as to where it occurred from.

But “tech neck,” as researchers are calling it, is far from the only physical damage to your bodies. The list goes on, including: headaches, nausea, sleep deprivation, high blood pressure and lower appetite. But that’s only the shell of what researchers are finding.

The internet is flooded with disturbing, disgusting, or gruesome posts; some disturb users so much that the comments are filled with people saying they need bleach to remove the image from their eyes. But one may not know that when they see a post that gives them such a feeling then they likely experience shallow breathing,muscle tension, higher blood pressure and even adrenaline release.

So your adrenaline is released, but what about your dopamine? Over time our bodies have changed to adapt to our environment, except physical changes tend to happen easier than mental ones. Social media is still a new invention in our time and our bodies are still confused about what it is. So when you scroll and keep seeing things that you enjoy, your body releases dopamine (which is the chemical in your body responsible for positive emotions), but unfortunately people don’t realize that in levels so high,it can cause over-aggressiveness, anxiety and impulse behavior. And in severe cases, it can end with hallucinations and severe delusions.

“Most of the time, I’m like ‘…I have to get off the phone,’”expressed freshman Morgain Lewis when asked about her screentime. She gets some moments of happiness from scrolling, but other times she feels disappointed with herself.

So how can you stop? Studies show that a majority of people wish that they had a lower screentime, but here’s the good news. You have the ability to lower it and there are several ways you can do it.

The first way is most likely the most simple yet hardest one for many. Delete all apps with distractions. Seems simple, right? Just hold on to the app and press delete; but due to a fear of missing out (fomo) over forty percent of people struggle with deleting it. However, if you are strong enough to end up deleting it then you are already on your way to relief.

Another way is implementing screentime apps, or if you have an IOS device, just setting screentime in settings. 55% of people have felt satisfied with their lower screentime after implementing such things. Fun fact: even if you put the option to “Allow for 15 more minutes” then you are still less likely to use your phone because of the irritation you get from repeatedly allowing yourself to use an app for a brief time.

It’s in nearly everyone’s lives yet it is causing more harm than good. Your phone needs restrictions so you don’t end up burning out. The apps are unnecessary, and society needs to regain the control they are swiping away with every doomscroll.