Placing Changes: A Screen Check
We all know that change is inevitable. The ability to scoot around on your bottom rather than walk upright is impressive in babies but off-putting in adults. The moments when your social network becomes less family-centered are often significant: first day at school, leaving high school, going to college, renting your own place, — it’s a long list.
Some changes are weighted towards the positive, but it’s obvious that this isn’t always true. You can move home and lose connections as a result. You can suffer injury and lose the ability to do something you used to take for granted. You can be bereaved and lose that special person who was there for you; the one who would always listen. These changes nurture our fear of change.
In the legion of old jokes that begin ‘How many… does it take to change a light-bulb?’ is the classic — ‘How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light-bulb?’ The answer being — Just one, but the light-bulb really has to want to change.
The joke highlights the fact that change can be hard and require commitment, but it also reveals that one of the reasons people don’t change, even when they sense that change would be for the better, is because they are afraid. They feel safe in a world shaped by habit, and they mistrust what they don’t know. But being fearful doesn’t stop change, although it can complicate our adjustment to it.
The reality of change is evident when you realise that trying to keep things as they are, actually requires lots of additional effort. We don’t actually prevent change; instead we camouflage it, and end up keeping the bad with the good.
Recently, I read an article about the impact of increased “screen time” on eye-sight. Eye specialists are increasingly concerned that the screens that take more and more of our attention are increasing myopia (short-sightedness). Millions of children are using computers and mobile phones, game consoles and digital televisions for most of their waking hours. The problems adults experience from eye strain are heightened by child adaptability. Instead of complaining about excessive glare from an over-lit screen, children endure it. Even when they experience blurred vision, doctors find them slow to report or complain about it; they simply assume everyone sees that way. In poorer households especially, computers often have multiple users and they will be set most often for adult use. Most children will not change the settings and as a result they will have to look up more and if they then spend hours playing games with intense concentration, they can develop arm, neck, and back problems from incorrect posture (adults will as well!). Since the computer itself produces light, other light sources need to be adjusted to reduce glare, and since the focusing activity inherent to onscreen activity is taxing to the eye, it is important to take breaks. We have changed our habits to take advantage of the new tech, but we haven’t always changed the way we sit or taken on board the idea that when you sit at a computer, you should do a “cockpit” check to ensure that everything is where it should be.
This is one example of how even a change that seems positive involves other changes that need to be managed. If, like me, you have found yourself reading a lot more on-line in the last year or so, you need to consider that change and its implications. Don’t just allow it to find its own place in your life, place it carefully where it will work best for you.
