Salamatak – Screens

Screens and smart devices provide us with knowledge, news, and entertainment. However, we could easily drown in an ocean of negative consequences if not used properly.

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Screens

Look around you and you’ll see a number of screens, whether on a TV, smartphone, a tablet, or a video gaming device. We have become dependent on those screens as a source of entertainment, information retrieval, and service consumption. However, they also hold the risk of physical, mental, and social related issues and consequences. Following are some advices to maximize the benefits of screens around us and to prevent the potential risks:

20-20-20 Rule

After looking at a screen for 20 minute, take a 20-seconds break and focus on an object 20 feet away from you (approx. 6 meters).

Children Screen Time

The role of parents comes in guiding children through organizing and controlling their screen time:

  • Media use is discouraged for children younger than 2 years old
  • For children between 2 to 5 years old, it is advised to limit their screen time to 1 hour of good quality supervised content

However, for children older than 5 years old, make sure you control the quality of the content they are exposed to by doing the following:

  • Educate yourself about the content they are about to consume (whether it is TV, video games, or anything else) and make sure the content is appropriate for their age
  • Introduce interactive and educational content in order to help them learn and develop while they are being entertained
  • Make use of the parental lock features in the platform you are using to avoid exposing them to inappropriate content
  • Be around your child while they are consuming content to supervise and educate
  • Ask them questions about the content they are consuming to encourage them to think critically and to help them retain and learn new skills
  • Avoid applications with advertisements, as they tend to be unsupervised and could expose children to inappropriate content for their age group

Finally, make sure that screens do not stand in the way of having enough sleep and physical and mental activities, as well us outdoor play.

Screen and Bedtime

The light from your mobile screen affects the quality of your sleep and is considered one of the main factors of insomnia and lack of sleep, as they prevent the brain from producing Melatonin, a hormone that helps in controlling your sleep pattern. So, it is advised to avoid screens at least 2 hours before bedtime to increase the quality of your sleep. You can also use the night mode on your smartphone to block notifications from interrupting your sleep.

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Salamatak is an awareness program with an authentic Arab spirit that provides health advice and guidance in line with the standards of international health awareness organizations. It aims to elevate society through health and safety awareness in a spontaneous way, and targets healthy people in particular and society in general.

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