What Screen Time Is Really Doing to Your Body with Manoush Zomorodi

Pushkin. If you follow the research on the science of happiness, you've probably heard a lot about the connection between screen time and well-being. It's a problem that I think about a lot, and a topic that we talk about on the show a lot. But lately, I found myself wondering, what if we're missing the bigger picture? We hear, you know, the mental health epidemic, growing rates of depression and anxiety has to do with the content that we get, right?

This is journalist Manush Zamarodi. Some of you may also know Manoch as the host of NPR's TED Radio Hour. This idea that we are taking in outrage, headlines, violence, also comparing ourselves to other people. that it is purely sort of a psychological thing, that it's something going on in our heads. Minoush says that given all the focus on how technology affects our minds, it's easy to overlook another important part of the story.

What we're not taking into account is what we actually do with our bodies when we are spending all that time taking in that content. We are sitting and looking at a screen for long stretches of time. And we now know that the average American adult spends 12 and a half hours consuming media a day. And I mean that's a lot of hours.

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