Today's era is so much influenced by screen and technology that life without it seems impossible. Screen time is a very big addiction, to overcome which people have to adopt many strict rules and tricks. Due to increased awareness, almost everyone knows that screen time is harmful for health in every sense. Along with the eyes, it also has a bad effect on the brain. This is the reason why diseases like digital dementia are emerging. Which plays with health.

What is digital dementia?

Dementia is a group of brain disorders that have a variety of symptoms such as memory loss, poor decision-making ability, personality changes, and difficulty in performing daily activities.

Why does digital dementia occur?

Due to smartphones our brains become less active, there is a type of sensory mismatch in the brain which is caused by technology, phone and sitting in the same posture for a long time, due to which symptoms of dementia start to be felt, which is called digital dementia. Using phone, laptop, tablet, computer etc. for more than 4 hours a day increases the risk of digital dementia . Children are equally affected by this along with adults.

Symptoms of digital dementia-

• Decreased short term memory
• forgetting or losing things easily
• Difficulty remembering words or things
• Problems with multitasking
• Using Google for every small and big task makes you unable to remember even basic things like your phone number
• Lack of focus on small things as well as big tasks
• In children, their slow grasp on language, less brain activity and sitting idle also hinder their mental and physical development

Prevention of digital dementia-

• Before going to sleep at night and after waking up in the morning, keep a fixed time during which you will not touch the phone at all.
• Play brain games like mental math problems, Sudoku or chess which require good use of the brain.
• Set a time limit on your phone after which your phone itself will start giving you signals of access usage. Many such apps are available nowadays.
• Use a pen and paper every day to jot down important phone numbers, grocery list and daily journal. Stop depending on the phone for everything. If possible, memorize phone numbers so that they can be useful in case of an emergency.
• Instead of binge-watching, focus on getting enough sleep. Plan a movie on weekends or holidays. Losing sleep and watching a screen is a compromise with health in any case.