Excessive Screen Time: The Barrier to Innovation

When I was a kid growing up in India, I loved Bollywood. To me, its world of dazzling sarees, dramatic music, and unbelievably repetitive plotlines contained insurmountable aesthetic beauty. As a result, I spent most of my childhood dancing to Hindi music in my grandmother's sarees and took pride in my knowledge of Indian cinema.

Throughout middle school and early high school, my education never motivated me to do anything beyond my homework and test prep. In fact, every Friday, liberated by the school bell, my mind would default to the new Bollywood releases of the month and YouTube interviews of my favorite celebrities.

This obsession with the TV screen was my comfort zone, and also of many growing adolescents around the globe.

But here is the issue: A recent study by the National Institutes of Health showed that kids who spend more than two hours a day on screen time activities score lower on language and thinking tests. Moreover, kids who spend more than seven hours a day on screens show a thinning of the brain's cortex, which manages critical thinking and reasoning.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, this screen usage doubled amongst teens, according to JAMA Pediatrics.

The underlying issue here is not with knowing when to stop with unproductive screen engagement but of choosing to immerse in it in the first place.

The pandemic itself brought into light the importance of innovation as a necessity more than an option.

There is an epidemic of teens who leave the idea of world-changing solution development to the "grown-ups." This is besmirched in irony. Innovation requires creativity and imagination. And, we can all unanimously agree, imagination peaks during our developing years.

By turning to TV, social media, and other never-ending electronic sources of instant gratification, we are turning a deaf ear to the world's screech for a fresh generation of problem-solvers. This habit needs to change for the sake of our planet's sustainability.

At first glance, it seems almost impossible to carry the burden of the world on our shoulders when lazy days in the company of our internet seem idealistic.

But I encourage you to slowly make yourself aware of what you are gaining from every additional hour of screen time.

For me during the pandemic, this meant creating a daily log tracking the number of hours I spent on Bollywood binge-watching and recording how I felt shortly after. With each additional movie or music video I watched, I found myself feeling incredibly unfulfilled and aimless.

By keeping track, consistently reflecting, and slowly curbing my screen-time day by day, I replaced my unfulfilled TV binge sessions with productive research on COVID-19 personal protective equipment. Ultimately, using online building software, I was able to design a better and more cost-effective face shield design that can reduce COVID-19 transmission. Though I didn't move mountains, I took a step towards embracing the time I had and transformed it into time well spent.

If I can do it, so can you.