Today a BBC InDepth article looks at "What screen time does to children's brains is more complicated than it seems" and the debate around what impact of "screen time" compared with "touch grass" time (get outdoors and do something unrelated to tech devices) has on young people (and I would extend applying the concept and debate to people of any age group).
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9d0l40v551o
The BBC reader comments participation window opens today at 10 am (London, BST).
The NHS Leicestershire Partnership also produced an article refining a more specific look at the screen time safety balance of positives / negatives when you are an Autistic person.
Their article highlighted some considerations for Autistic people as they navigate the tightrope of using screen time to help with self-regulation, and yet, also learning to manage the risk that too much screen time might lead to emotional dysregulation and sleep disturbance.
I am not someone who consumes much, if any, screen time with: mainstream social media platforms / digital gaming / apps / streaming programmes or box sets - and I never use online or app-based gambling / bingo screen time.
All that said, I am an Autistic person who consumes way more screen time than other NT relatives in my age group (maybe of any age group). Predominantly consuming: news / research / self-education / non-fiction reading.
However, where I think I may also differ; is in what / why / which impact my screen time may afford me. By that I mean why I use screen time and how I derive benefit from it does seem different for me versus my NT relatives.
That divergence can be the source of misunderstanding and judgemental interference.
I thrive on detailed input and near-constant self-education (an anathema to some of my relatives who derive much more than I from e g. social contact and settings, or team sports, or busy public places).
Screen time nature of content and context is key (I believe) in teasing apart the debate in general terms - plus, more specifically as it applies to me as an Autistic person.
Likewise, I feel that what "touch grass" time means to a particular individual and their mind and body is essential to understand too.
I am an example of somebody who values outdoor time (throughout my decades). Indeed, my personal, physical health vitamin D circuit demands active marshal of outdoors time (this is not the case, to the same extent, among my NT relatives).
I find that am also someone whose mental health benefits from observing and participating in the year's seasons.
I believe my spirit, mood and and soul each demand more access to natural daylight and breeze (to thrive) than some of my relatives.
I have never been one to sunbathe - but it does me good to, at the very least, be able to see outdoor spaces bathed in sunlight (not so much brightness-seeking ...I am definitely a sunglasses and hat devotee) - but I do appreciate and benefit from; seeing the real World's foliage, landscapes, colours and the graduations of shade influenced by the sun and weather systems.
Nirvana for feeding the spirit of my inner child?: a conflict between wishing to view the sea in all weather states, or mountains in my peripheral vision as I go about my day. I have been afforded both those luxuries in the past but, sadly, they are not parameters so readily available / accessible in my present.
Grumpy times follow me among flatlands - a puzzle across a lifetime.
If you add in a climate / environment a bit devoid of ready awareness of distinct seasons - and trouble will be on the horizon.
Nemesis: large open plan offices full of noisy people and ringing phones - without windows - with brash overhead lighting - and too hot / cold (I experience those places as tortuous / imprisonment / unreasonable punishment). Unfortunately, those workplace environments are common.
So yes, I am that work colleague who relishes a desk by an exterior window - which you can open to experience the air and breeze when temperature permits (albeit, I might also be a card carrying member of the baseball cap / visor / sunglasses / noise cancelling headphones / desk fan clique - depending upon a given day, my energy levels and my self-regulation needs).
Here is the conundrum: woe betide anyone; who tries to interrupt my monotropism research screen time (or non-fiction book reading time for that matter) ...to then try and wrench me away from thoughts well controlled and emotion as near to regulated as I am ever likely to achieve or experience ...only tell me "you need to get outdoors", or some such intrusion.
I am someone who needs to beat my own path to the natural World. A meltdown trigger point? That is possible - depending upon the energy and competing demands at the time.
If there were to be restricted screen time and access to books - I would neither be productive, nor thrive (cue: a power bank and a Kindle account).
Happy place in a decent physical library? Definitely.
Deeply routed in the natural World and weather. Absolutely.
Screen time, book time or "touch grass" time? Well, in my self-assessment: I am equally dependant upon each of them - but essential for that scheduling to be under my autonomy.
What about you?
How do you find your preferred: balance, self-regulation, productivity and enjoyment?
Would you say that you are more of a "screen time", or "touch grass" entity?