How many times a day do you find yourself fixated on a screen? Today, every household in America is filled with televisions, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc. The average student finds themselves glued to a lighted screen full of graphics, whether for school or pleasure. This obsession is not only disturbing, but unhealthy.

That constant dedication to browsing your Tumblr irritates everyone, including your eyes. Studies show that 50-90% of people who regularly work in front of a computer screen suffer from Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). Symptoms of CVS include sore eyes, dry eyes, teary eyes, blurry vision, double vision, light sensitivity, difficulty focusing on images, neck pain, headache, or a combination of all of the above.

Staying up late at night on your bed Facebook stalking old profiles pictures not only disturbs your peers, but disturbs your sleep. Blue light prevents the hormone melatonin from being produced. Melatonin is a hormone that is released at nighttime to make your body tired, and help you fall asleep. The pervasive blue light prevents the pineal gland from releasing melatonin, thus preventing you from falling asleep easily.

I’m sure none of this is a surprise for you. In fact, I’m sure most of you feel that headache every day from staying up until 1 a.m. typing up this English essay and watching that Mandarin video. This problem is so common that there is an entire website called Computer Headache. This website is full of tips of how to prevent that throbbing sensation in your head after consistent visual encounters with your smartphone. You can check it out at www.computerheadache.org

Trust me, I know you are thinking “So what?  So what if lighted screens strain my eyes, and give me headaches: “I can’t escape them.” I understand this; even as I type this article my head is throbbing. But there are so many simple tips and solutions to prevent the downsides to being addicted to Instagram. Some basic ones are hold your devices the same distance away from your eyes as you would a book, and if you are holding that book really close – less than 20 inches away from your eyes – consider seeing an optometrist. Force yourself to blink more while working for extended periods of time with a screen. And when you wake up in the morning, don’t immediately go to a screen. Give your brain some times to refresh and start up.

The most important and most obvious way to screen out the side effects of being a millennial with a smartphone is to practice moderation. Easier said than done, I know, but it’s certainly worth it to your eyes, rest, and brain to consider screening out screens.