Screen fatigue

Are humans really meant to stare at computer screens all day long?

We wake up and check our phones. We pass the time on our commute checking football highlights, then spend eight hours at work staring at a computer screen, only to go home and spend the evening watching television. It cannot be good for us.

This is a very new phenomenon in human development. Back in 1988, I was in San Francisco working for IDEO, who developed the first laptop. The screen was tiny and horrid to look at. We were still mainly working on drawing boards, but we had two of the first Mac SEs, which were a huge novelty but not yet the indispensable devices we know today.

A phenomenal achievement – but at what cost?

While I was there, I went to a conference in Los Angeles showcasing the latest screen technology. At the time, one of the big challenges was ensuring the reliability of every pixel. Even relatively small screens had thousands of them, and if just one failed, the screen could be considered useless.

Today, screens are as big as buildings. It is a phenomenal technological achievement, and we have benefited enormously from their ability to communicate information to us. But there are consequences.

Both my parents read without glasses well into their 90s. Despite apparently having good eyesight genes, both my brother and I have needed glasses since we were adults. We are told that looking at screens does not cause permanent damage to our eyes, but I am not entirely convinced.

What screens are doing to us

What I am convinced about is that sitting at a desk all day is not good for us physically, causing neck and back problems.  And the widespread use of video conferencing is encouraging some very antisocial habits.

Before COVID, would anyone have sat in a room full of other people while scrolling on their phone? Yet we do precisely that online now, and I wonder whether the habit is gradually encroaching on our physical lives as well.

Meta recently agreed to pay $18 billion to settle claims that its practices were harming children and agreed to restrictions on use of its platforms. The case was primarily about content and online safety, but there is another issue. A child staring at a screen is, by definition, inactive and disengaged from their physical environment at a time when their brains and bodies are developing.

There also appears to be a relationship between heavy screen use and worsening ADHD symptoms. With a screen in front of them, no child is ever bored, yet being bored leads to the development of imagination.

These limitations are not confined to children.

The creativity problem

Working in the creative industries, I find that the solitary nature of working on a computer, with a screen demanding our attention, can limit aspects of imagination and collaboration. Yes, ideas often come from solitary thinking. But many of the best ideas emerge through interaction with other people.

There is nothing better than getting a few colleagues into a room, taking out the pens and paper and simply starting to draw and think together. The real-time sparking of ideas, building on them and resolving them is unhindered when we are fully engaged with each other.

Even screen-free meetings would be a welcome relief in the working day.

My daughter has just finished a three-month sabbatical from her job as a strategist. She spent it horse riding in Andalusia, yoga training in Sri Lanka and taking a pottery course in Sicily.

What we can do about it

This break from her screen, and her deliberate focus on mental and physical interaction with the world around her, has left her both genuinely relaxed and energised.

As company leaders, we need to think about how to create a better balance in our working lives  –  not just for ourselves, but for our teams.

A hundred years ago, most workers used their hands and eyes in complex, coordinated ways to perform their jobs. I believe that kind of hand-eye coordination and physical engagement remains important to our mental and physical wellbeing. It was fundamental to our development as human beings, and it remains central to how we experience the world.

So how do we reintroduce some of this into the workplace when so much of what we do is screen-based?

We need to make time for it. But that time could be very well spent. Giving people opportunities to think, make, move and interact differently may not only make them healthier and happier; it could make them more productive.

Sport is an obvious antidote to sedentary screen-watching, but sport is not for everyone. There has been a significant growth in craft-based hobbies as people look for a better balance in their lives. Could employers encourage more of this?

As well as company touch-rugby leagues, how about a few bitch and stitch sessions?

That is enough screen-based work for me for now.

I am off to play the guitar really badly.

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