Impact of Screen Time on The Eco-System and How to Reduce it  

Impact of Screen Time on The Eco-System and How to Reduce it

If we compare the impact of technology and screen time on the eco-system when it comes to our phones, laptops, and other similar devices to what we had some 10, or 15 years back, we will find that there is a huge difference in its capabilities and in how much people put it to use. 

Gradually, but unfailingly, the use of our gadgets became an important aspect of life and skyrocketed the moment COVID hit the world, keeping everyone trapped inside and leaving us to grapple with existence and connection to friends, loved ones, and coworkers via the internet.

This and many more factors have significantly increased screen time, which is now causing harm not only to individuals, especially children and adolescents, but also to the environment.

Does Screen Time Affect the Environment?

When considering the aggregate hours spent in front of a screen today and its many effects, it may make us wonder if it affects the environment in any way. The sad answer is, it does. Most human activities that involve the use of power and chemicals, will indefinitely inform the effect of climate change. 

According to estimates, our gadgets, the internet coupled with the supporting systems conveniently account for 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions with experts giving insight that it is similar to the carbon footprint of airline industries globally which should double by 2050. 

As much as different organizations and governments are putting steps in place to buffer the effect and create counter methods to protect the environment, individuals and businesses can also work towards reducing screen time while increasing green time to protect themselves and the environment.

Are you ready to limit screen time to reduce carbon footprints? Here are some easy tips for you:

Unsubscribing from unwanted emails

We've all got that email we get daily, that we subscribed to in the spur of the moment thinking we could not do without, but have consistently snoozed the notification and ultimately relegated it to the back of our minds and completely forgotten about it. It ends up piling up in our inbox with the full knowledge that we'll never open it or read the content. For some other people, there are even multiple sources of these emails. 

You can help yourself and the environment today and do a proper clean-up of your inbox. Delete the emails, and unsubscribe from newsletter lists that you have no need for or interest in. 

Using phones for smaller tasks, as they use less energy

If you have a task that you can properly execute on your phone, then there is no need to resort to your laptop. With this care and attitude when surfing the net or using your screen, you are protecting your eyes since there is less glare from the screen, reducing data and energy usage, and ultimately protecting yourself and your environment. 

Sending an SMS, instead of a WhatsApp or Facebook message, and removing gifs, emojis, and images

This particular suggestion may seem absurd but you need to know that sending messages via messaging apps that use data or wifi leaves more carbon footprint than an SMS would. Therefore, consider using SMS more today and remove gifs, emojis, and images where unnecessary. Additionally, working on sending precise messages while cutting out unnecessary words would help the environment tremendously. 

Final thoughts

There are several ways to reduce your screen time and its impact on the eco-system. You can take advantage of your knowledge in the home at work to help reduce it. You can consider switching to Wifi whenever possible, watching films and TV together, and choosing audio media over visual media. If you need to purchase various home or business custom products, you can check through our products to get started.