Too much screen time isn’t good for us. It can cause eye strain, give us headaches and can affect our sleep quality. However, much of the harm caused by screens comes down to the type of content we consume. When people talk about the dangers of too much screen time, they tend to refer to activities like doomscrolling or bingeing trash TV or online gambling. It’s these types of activities that can make us feel unproductive, angry and depressed. By thinking about how you interact with screens, you can turn them into a much healthier tool. Below are 20 examples of healthy ways to spend your screen time.
Online workouts
A lot of screen activities force us to be inactive. They can make us fat and lazy. However, not all screen activities are like this. Online workouts are a prime example of this - exercise videos and live workout classes can help people to stay physically active without having to go to a gym. They are one of several ways in which we can use our digital devices to stay fit.
Educational courses
Our digital devices can also be used to help us obtain an education. There are many courses that can now be studied online instead of having to visit a school or college. This is an example of how we can use screen time to improve our lives - helping us to expand our knowledge and gain new qualifications.
Brain-testing puzzles
There are many ways in which we can use screens to exercise our brain. Solving online puzzles like crosswords and sudokus can help improve our problem-solving skills, while also potentially fending off conditions like dementia. Similar digital activities that are good for our brain include non-gambling card games like Spider Solitaire and digital versions of board games like Chess and Scrabble.
Documentaries and essays
The TV and internet is full of fascinating documentaries and essays that can teach us more about the world. These are another healthy way to occupy our screen time - they can help us to build out knowledge and potentially become an expert in a field. Of course, the quality of these documentaries and essays does make a difference (there’s a lot of factually inaccurate conspiracy theory content out there that is best avoided).
Blogging
Starting a blog can be another healthy way to spend your screen time. Blogging is a chance to share your experiences and knowledge with the world. It can be a creative outlet for many people that can also look great on a resume, as well as potentially helping you to build online authority. This article compares the best platforms for starting a blog.
Journaling
Journaling involves recording thoughts, feelings and experiences. While it traditionally involves using a notepad, you can also use your notepad add or various specific apps to practise journaling. Unlike writing a blog, journaling is done in private as a way of relieving stress and practising mindfulness. It can be one of the few healthy screen activities to carry out before bed.
Making to-do lists
You can also use your digital devices to stay organised by creating to-do lists. This includes shopping lists, birthday gift lists, work plans or travel checklists. This is a productive screen activity that can also be a form of de-stressing if you’re anxious about an upcoming event, helping you to feel more prepared.
Creating art
Creating art is good for the soul. It’s a way of expressing our feelings and being creative. There are many artistic hobbies that don’t require a screen. However, there are also many that do require a screen such as writing stories, creating digital illustrations, producing/recording music or creating animations/videos.
Learning a musical instrument
Learning a musical instrument can improve our memory, motor skills and abstract reasoning. It’s also a fun talent that can enable us to learn our favourite songs and even compose our own music. The internet can be a great tool for learning to play an instrument - there are many free video tutorials and sheet music/tabs/lyrics that we can access. You could even hire an online music teacher and practise lessons via video call.
DIY tutorials
Screens can also help us to build our DIY skills. Being able to carry out home repairs and improvements ourselves can save us money and help us to be more independent. Using video tutorials and how-to blog posts, it’s possible to learn all kinds of skills from installing a shelf to unblocking a u-bend under a sink. Just make sure you’re not attempting anything too advanced and that you have the right tools for the job.
Learning craft skills
Many craft skills like jewelry making, crocheting, dressmaking and cross-stitching are possible to learn online through videos, diagrams and charts. Craft skills are a rewarding and therapeutic hobby for those that like creating things. It may even be possible to craft useful items for your home, gifts for loved ones or even items to sell for cash.
Recipes and cooking tutorials
Screens can also help us to prepare meals and choose ingredients. There are many recipe blogs online that you can use to learn new dishes. There are also plenty of cooking tutorial videos that can teach cooking skills. Many of us don’t have anyone to teach us how to cook well and can’t justify buying recipe books - online recipes and cooking tutorials can therefore be a great solution.
Foreign language learning
Another healthy way to interact with screens is to use them to learn languages. There are now many language learning apps, language learning video channels and online language courses to choose from. Learning a language could allow you to travel more freely or even move abroad somewhere. It could also open up new job opportunities. On top of this, learning a language is a great form of brain exercise.
Investing money
From online savings accounts to stock trading apps, there are various ways in which you can use digital devices to invest your money. This is another productive way to occupy your screen time - helping you to build funds for the future. Just make sure that you’re also using digital devices to research investment opportunities and that you’re not just taking a risk on random stocks (which is as good as gambling).
Jobhunting
The internet has become the primary way in which many of us discover new job vacancies. Job board sites can allow us to search through ads and apply for roles. Sites like LinkedIn can meanwhile be used for networking and building a public resume. This can be another productive way to interact with screens.
Meditation
It’s also possible to combine screen time and meditation. There are a number of apps that can provide guided meditation to help reduce stress or help focus on goals. This is an example of how screens can be good for our mental health when used correctly.
Mental health support
There are also several sites and apps that people can use to seek out mental health support. This includes AI therapist bots that you can talk out your feelings with, as well as apps that can help to manage different mental illnesses like depression or OCD. It’s also possible for therapists and counsellors to provide sessions virtually for those that don’t want to leave the house. While stepping away from the screen is sometimes advised as one of the best ways to improve one’s mental health, there are clearly ways in which it can be a remedy.
Connecting with friends/family
We can also use digital devices to stay in contact with friends and family. This is another healthy way to use screens - providing that we are using them to talk to people who truly care about us. Don’t be afraid to reach out to friends and relatives who you haven’t spoken to in a while, while also keeping contact with those who you’re closer to.
Occupying exercise and chores
Screens can be used to entertain us while doing more mundane chores or doing our own workouts at home. Not everyone wants to watch an exercise video while working out, however being able to watch a movie or TV show could provide encouragement while carrying out reps with weights or running on a treadmill. Similarly, many of us find it hard to motivate ourselves to do the washing up or fold clothes - putting something on a screen to watch while doing these chores can make these tasks less boring. This is a way in which entertainment can be used productively.
Digital decluttering
Our digital lives can get quite cluttered over time. Our email inboxes can start overflowing, our photo libraries can end up using up all our memory and our desktops can end up having too many icons. Taking the time occasionally to digitally declutter can be good for keeping our digital lives organised and reducing stress. This is another productive way to spend your screen time. You’ll find many guides online on how to digitally declutter.
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