Discover practical tips for students to reduce screen time, prevent digital burnout, and reclaim focus, sleep, and real-life connections in an always-connected world.
Let’s do a quick inventory check: how many devices do you own right now? Phone, laptop, desktop, tablet, maybe even a smartwatch? For students today, life without screens feels almost impossible.
In the morning, you wake up to the phone alarm and start scrolling through social media before even getting out of bed. On your way to school, you’re so busy juggling emails from project peers and texts about tonight’s plans that missing your stop almost becomes a habit. Your laptop stays on all day for lectures, assignments, and research, interrupted by constant pings, notifications, and reminders. Every meal seems Instagram-worthy, and you can’t help checking the likes as you eat. By evening, you try to “unwind” with gaming or Netflix but usually end up dozing off in front of the TV screen or waking up suddenly because you dropped your phone onto your face. Then it’s rinse and repeat— the “always-on” student life.
How Much Do Our Devices Dominate Our Lives?
According to the Digital 2025 Global Overview Report, youths aged between 16 and 24 spend over seven hours online daily, almost 40% of their waking lives, with nearly 2.5 hours on social media alone. That’s a lot of screen time, and it doesn’t come without consequences.
The Burnout
Prolonged screen time can cause poor concentration, memory issues, and lower cognitive function, which in turn can worsen stress, anxiety, and depressive feelings and affect academic performance.
Don’t think it affects you? A study of 925 students at Inönü University, Malatya found digital burnout levels were above average, even though their self-reported stress was only moderate. In other words, even if you don’t feel the mental draining effects, your body might be screaming otherwise.
Long hours on screens also expose your eyes to artificial blue light, which can lead to digital eye strain, also known as computer vision syndrome. It also messes with your body clock, with your late-night scrolling interfering your sleep-wake cycle, making it harder to fall asleep, reducing sleep quality, and leaving you irritable and unfocused the next day.
The Social Trap
And that’s not all. Many of us live a big part of our social lives on screens. With so much status-chasing content on social media; it’s no wonder comparison creeps in and slowly eats away at our self-esteem. Then there’s the FOMO phenomenon, the fear of missing out on conversations, updates, and opportunities, which pushes us to check notifications, refresh feeds, and reply instantly.
Not to mention, it’s become so easy to friend and unfriend someone, send quick messages, and say things without facing real consequences—so much so that, over time, we lose practice in real-life social skills and feel increasingly isolated from our genuine connections.
This “always-on” lifestyle blurs the line between work, study, and fun and eventually takes a toll on our physical, mental, and emotional health. With screens dominating so much of life, maybe it’s time to pause, look up, and reclaim our health and sanity.
Setting Boundaries To Avoid Digital Burnout
While it might not be realistic to unplug completely, we can create simple rules and habits to stop screens from running our lives.
1 Begin Your Day Offline
Wake up to a good old alarm clock, so you’re not reaching for your phone first thing in the morning. Keep the first 30 minutes of your day screen-free—no emails, no notifications, no scrolling. Use this quiet time to plan your day. Instead of checking your online calendar, grab a notebook to make a task checklist. This will put you in more control and help you be more proactive in setting priorities, rather than constantly reacting to pings.
2 Create No-Phone Zones
Keep your phone away at the dinner table, during meetings or dates, on walks (for safety reasons— especially when crossing the road!), and while watching a movie (after all, you’re already looking at another screen). Being fully present lets you enjoy the moment and give your attention to those around you.
3 Unplug Before Bed
Just like starting your day screen-free, try to be screen-free at least 30 minutes before bedtime. Charge your phone outside the bedroom so you won’t be tempted to scroll or check your emails. Those messages will still be there in the morning, and your circadian rhythm will thank you with deeper night’s sleep and better focus the next day.
4 Pause & Reset
Take a break from your devices every 45 or 90 minutes to recharge your brain. Research has shown that taking microbreaks of no more than five minutes, even if it’s just simple activities like stretching, getting yourself a glass of water, or taking a few deep breaths, can improve mental clarity, physical health, and overall productivity. To rest your eyes, follow the 20-20-20 rule by looking up from your computer screen every 20 minutes, for 20 seconds, and at something 20 feet (roughly 6 metres) away.
5 Take Charge of Notifications
Remind yourself that there’s no need to reply to every message immediately. Schedule specific times to check your emails, turn off non-urgent alerts, and unsubscribe from e-newsletters and group chats you never read.
6 Declutter Your Digital Life
Do you really need four email accounts and three social media profiles? Trim it down to just Instagram for friends and LinkedIn for work or school. You’ll have fewer passwords to remember too! And next time when you’re eyeing a new gadget, ask yourself if it adds value or just more noise.
7 Choose Face-To-Face Over Texting
Whenever possible, meet in person. And when you do, remember to put your phone away!
8 Rethink Social Media
You can always choose how you want to engage on social media. If certain content leaves you feeling stressed, anxious, or envious, don’t be afraid to unfollow or mute those accounts. Instead, follow pages that make you laugh, teach you something new, or spark your creativity.
Whenever you catch yourself comparing your own experiences to others online, acknowledge that most posts don’t tell the full story and shift your mindset from thinking, “I’m falling behind” to asking, “What can I take
away from this?”
Make sure that you’re posting and sharing for the right reasons—for self-expression and genuine connection, not for validation.
Finally, embrace the Joy of Missing Out (JOMO). Reignite your love for offline activities such as reading, cooking, drawing, sports, or exploring a new hobby. Hopefully, you can also resist the urge to post about it!