Your Screen Time and Real Life: 5 Tips to Maintain a Healthy Balance

Article written by: Lakkshanasre Viyasarramanujam

Article designed by: Lakkshanasre Viyasarramanujam & Palak Tiwari

Today’s fast paced society demands the best of our time, keeping us glued to screens — scrolling, swiping, gaming, streaming. Technology is a pervasive presence in our world today, and for many of us, it is hard to avoid. However, imagine a world where you can feel energized, sleep better, crush your goals, and still have plenty of time for your favorite online activities. It sounds like a dream, but you can make that a reality! Afterall, it's about finding your sweet spot between screen time and real life. Using these 5 simple tips, you too can maintain a healthy balance between your screen time and spending time towards other activities. 

Tip #1: Set times for “Unplugged Zones” during the day

You can easily designate certain times throughout the day to create an unplugged zone for yourself. For example, these times could be after you had breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Instead of using your devices, do a relaxing activity like drawing or reading a book. In fact, recent reports according to Common Sense Media estimate that about 8 hours and 39 minutes per day are being spent on their phones! (commonsensemedia.com) That’s a huge chunk! Instead, taking advantage of valuable free time can help you work towards an activity that is actually productive and accomplishing.

Tip #2: Don’t spend time on your devices 1 hour before you go to sleep

This tip is especially crucial to growing children who often spend a lot of time on their devices. Studies show that putting away your devices just 1 hour before you sleep can increase retention, focus, and overall health everyday.

According to a 2019 Common Sense Media study, over 35% of teens check their phones in the middle of the night, leading to fragmented sleep (commonsensemedia.com). Sleep is disturbed throughout the night due the constant distraction of our phone notifications. Turn off your non-essential notifications to reduce distractions and unwanted disturbances! 

Tip #3: Plan out your “real-life” first! 

It can be very easy to want to dive into your phone as soon as you get home from school, spending hours scrolling on your bed. Before doing this, plan out time for homework, exercise, activities, or even meet your friends–in person. Planning out these essentials will help set up your day with clear focus, helping prevent all the time lost because of your phone distractions. 

Tip #4: Using tracking apps to monitor your screen time

Most phones or devices have built in apps/features to track how much time you spend on apps. Observe how much time you spend on those apps, especially social media–such as Tiktok, Snapchat, or Instagram–where many teens spend their most time on their phones. Then, reflect on whether that usage aligns with your goals and set daily time limits for your screen time appropriately. According to Aspen Valley Health, it’s suggested that “no more than two hours per day” is spent on your phone (aspenvallyhealth.org). However, they still emphasize adjusting regulations for healthy screen time according to the quality of your activities and based on the impact of those activities on you. 

Tip #5: Put distracting devices away when you are doing your homework

If you are submitting or finishing their work later than it needs to be, one of the reasons is probably because you are distracted by your phones! Mollie Brinker, a student who goes to Hoggard High School in North Carolina also agrees when she also feels that it’s “just so easy to forget about the essay you need to write if you unlock your phone and start messing around. They’re excellent distractions” (nytimes.com). Many of us use it as a way to escape the dreadful amount of homework we have in front of us, however, by simply putting our phones in another room, we are less distracted by the notification and get to finish our homework much faster. In turn, this allows us to make time for other things, like actually meeting with friends or starting a new hobby. 

All these tips may be small, but it allows us to make gradual changes to our routine and become less dependent on our devices. After following these tips, you will feel a great difference in your lifestyle and will be able to pursue a lot more than you would imagine– just by maintaining a healthy balance between your screen time and real life activities. Powering down our devices and taking the time to focus on other things that actually matter can lead to better health changes, improved sleep, increased focus, and decreased mood changes. So start implementing these tips to see a difference now!

Works Cited 

4-C. “Technology Is Here to Stay - Finding a Healthy Balance.” 4-C, 16 Oct. 2020, www.4-c.org/parenting-tips/technology-is-here-to-stay-finding-a-healthy-balance/.

Aspen Valley Hospital. “Teens and Mental Health: The Harmful Effects of Too Much Screen Time.” Aspen Valley Health, 31 Jan. 2022, aspenvalleyhealth.org/healthy-journey/effects-of-too-much-screen-time/.

“Breaking the Screen Time Guilt Cycle: A Realistic Approach for Modern Parents.” Intermountainhealthcare.org, 19 Mar. 2025, intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/breaking-the-screen-time-guilt-cycle-a-realistic-approach-for-modern-parents. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

The Learning Network. “What Students Are Saying about How Much They Use Their Phones, and Whether We Should Be Worried.” The New York Times, 6 Feb. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/learning/what-students-are-saying-about-how-much-they-use-their-phones-and-whether-we-should-be-worried.html.

Virk, Shawndeep . “Connecting in the Digital Age: Navigating Technology and Social Media – Visual Life.” VISUAL LIFE, 9 June 2023, rikithompson.ds.lib.uw.edu/visuallife/connecting-in-the-digital-age-navigating-technology-and-social-media/.