’Our devices can still be a positive part of our life’: UVic screen time expert
Graphic via Let’s Get Happi.
The term “phone addiction” is more prevalent than ever. You’ve probably used it when complaining to your friends about how impossible it is to write an essay without taking breaks to scroll mindlessly. But how do researchers investigate the way we depend on our phones? And how does this dependence correlate to mental health issues?
The Martlet decided to speak with an expert to explore the problems that arise from being glued to our phones, and what to do about it.
Emmett Sihoe is a masters student in UVic’s clinical psychology program. He researches screen time and its effects on young people.
He told the Martlet that screen time has been a concern since the advent of television (TV). In the 1960s and ‘70s, health professionals worried that watching TV would stop children from being able to read.
“These concerns have evolved as screen time and technology has evolved,” said Sihoe, adding that there have always been fears about how these tools will affect child development.
The concept of phone addiction is controversial in the scientific world, Sihoe said. He explained that it stems from the “idea that not only substances, but behaviours, can be addictive.”
Sihoe prefers to describe this relationship with screens as “problematic,” but acknowledges that some people find it helpful to explain their struggles as an addiction.
“We can have really challenging relationships with technology that can really negatively impact our life,” he said.
A 2018 study found that one fifth of Albertan and Ontarian high school students spend five hours on social media platforms each day. Another study that year found that three-quarters of parents were concerned by the amount of time their children spend consuming media.
Sihoe explained that the key variable when determining if someone struggles with their use of screens is the quality of time spent using devices, not the quantity. He wants people to ask themselves how their screen usage affects other parts of their lives.
“We can have a really positive relationship or a really negative relationship — it’s about that quality of time that we’re spending with digital media,” he said.
In 2023, Sihoe conducted a study with other UVic researchers to see how middle schoolers reported issues with smartphone usage.
The scale they used was quality, not time, and students were asked questions about how devices affect their lives. Questions included asking if their phones caused them to feel physical pain, if they felt that they were missing out on experiences, and if they felt it was difficult to stop using their phones.
The team was curious about the connection between phone usage and reports of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms — whether students with ADHD symptoms were more likely to develop unhealthy phone usage, or if that usage caused symptoms of ADHD after the fact.
“What we found was that the direction of the relationship was only one way,” he said. “Smartphone addiction scores predicted future ADHD symptoms.”
This meant that the students sampled who reported poor relationships with their smartphones were more likely to develop symptoms of ADHD after one year.
Sihoe feels that the recent smartphone bans in school districts across the country are a step in the right direction.
“I think it’s a good thing to keep cellphones out of schools, because I do think that it impacts how present kids can be and how well people can learn,” he said, adding that these issues extend to students in university.
Sihoe said that, despite the issues with problematic phone usage, there are also benefits to using smartphones and social media. He said that one of the biggest misconceptions from older generations about screen usage among youth is that it’s all negative.
“The truth is that there are so many amazing things that people can use technology for,” he said, pointing to the COVID-19 pandemic as a time when people used social media to connect with others.
“A lot of online spaces are safe spaces for people that are marginalized, especially in the LGBTQ+ community,” Sihoe said, explaining that these spaces are crucial for youth who might not have real life connections to the communities they identify with.
Sihoe’s biggest piece of advice for students struggling to stay off their phones is practicing good sleep hygiene. He recommends turning off your phone an hour before you go to sleep, and keeping your phone away from your bed.
“The light from our devices can keep us awake and trick our brains into thinking it’s daytime,” he said.
Another suggestion is to reflect on why we might be so reliant on our devices. He explained that knowing why we struggle with our devices is an important first step in solving our dependency on them.
In the end, Sihoe says that having a balance is the most important part of maintaining a healthy relationship with our phones.
“I don’t want people to think that every extra hour of screen time is bad — it’s that all of us have this happy medium,” he said. “Our devices can still be a positive part of our life.”
