Cork Views: Advice on how to study and put down that phone

Every May from 1980 to the early 1990s, I seemed to have been preparing for an important all-consuming exam. Leaving Cert, Medical School, GP exams, Public Health exams – it went on and on.

My birthday, also in late May, was spent stooped over a desk, trying to focus on a musty text and ignore the glorious sunshine streaming through my window. I would have a picture of the longed-for holiday in the sun stuck on the wall over my desk, dreaming of lazing on the beach with absolutely nothing to do.

These pleasant distractions meant it could take a while to get down to the task in hand – especially if it was one of my least favourite subjects. I detested physics, managing to scrape through in pre-med with a practical experiment that caused a flood in the lab, or biochemistry, which I found mind-numbingly boring when it was all theory and not applied to real people with real diseases.

In one sense, I was lucky it was only the sun that was my chief distraction and not the all- consuming addictive draw of social media.

I sympathise with all those kids trying to keep their heads down over calculus or chemistry when their smartphone is on their desk beeping and bumping away non-stop, urging them to drop their focus and dive in.

Avoiding rabbit holes of online memes and social media is a real challenge. Parents have just as big an ordeal trying to support stressed kids without losing their cool and throwing smartphones into the nearest pond.

Whatever about the mental health harms of social media, there is no denying its all-consuming addictiveness. If smartphones were around in the ’80s, I am certain they would have affected my prowess at exams, which is why they must be kept in check when time is precious and results are paramount.

Mental health and smartphones

Legislation has stalled as the mental health consequences of smartphones in the hands of teenagers is difficult to prove. One of the biggest concerns is that the growing use of smartphones and social media is responsible for rising rates of adolescent anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders. Researchers agree young people are struggling with mental health, but there is fierce debate about how much phones and social media are to blame.

Because screens are so woven into every aspect of our lives, separating benefits from harms is not easy. Observational studies examining the links between screen use and mental health have found conflicting results regarding harms and benefits.

One problem is these studies rely on self-reporting of the amount of time spent on screens which is notoriously unreliable. Also, a chicken- and- egg scenario can arise over mental health – did anxiety or depression cause social media use or was it the other way around?

Large review studies have tried to answer these questions with limited success. Many have found weak associations between smartphone use and mental health.

One study of nearly 400 adolescents in 2021 found 28% felt worse after social media (largely Instagram, WhatsApp and Snapchat), 26% felt better and 45% experienced no change. A small percentage of people who use their devices in very harmful ways can result in terrible consequences such as self-harm.

Editor for Nature, and science journalist, Helen Pearson in Beyond Belief – How Evidence Shows What Really Works suggests there are other reasons to limit young people’s use of smartphones. It may be that the real harm is not the use itself but their addictiveness, that results in much less time spent on other activities including playing, exercising, seeing friends and family in person as well as homework, study and sleep. Experts suggest a more sensible approach might be to look at what screen time might be crowding out and how to find the right balance.

The American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP) has taken this approach - advising families to consider what works for them - with no digital media below two and no more than one hour of screen time for children aged two to five. Otherwise, it recommends families develop an approach that works for them based on the needs of their children, their family values and routines.

Personalised family media plan

In an online tool, the AAP supports families in developing a personalised family media plan that suggests rules such as keeping meals and bedrooms screen-free and discussing upsetting content.

Pearson says long lists of rules in her own home with two boys led to a repetitive cycle of rules being broken and parents shouting. She concluded that as long as they were doing their homework, getting enough sleep, seeing friends, pursuing a couple of extra-curricular activities and getting out of the house at least once a day, the absolute number of hours online was not so hard and fast.

“We did keep some rules: no screens in the bedroom at night or at dinner, homework before screens. We also tried to sit with them regularly to look at their social media feeds, in the hope this would flag concerning content.”

Guy Holder, Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) and Business teacher at Harrodian school, London, offers this advice for parents and students to get through the next few weeks without killing each other and to allow students to maximise focus in the crucial build- up to summer exams.

1. Mark a specific time of the day when you plan to look at your smartphone, just as you will have been encouraged to do for other leisure activities, such as watching TV or doing exercise. “Don’t just let it drip, constantly, throughout your day.”

2. Turn off your smartphone before starting a study period - “the more that thought fills you with dread, the more you need to do it.”

3. Smartphones should be put in a box out of sight, like under the stairs or in a cupboard.

Other tools that will massively reduce the tendency to be a slave to your phone: replace your phone with a watch or clock; a calculator; and a pad of paper or other stationary.

Holder suggests a revision plan will work best if you include breaks that do not include a smartphone – watching a 30-minute show on TV rather than 30 minutes scrolling. That can happen at specific times of the day but “it has to be intentional”.

The reality is your attention is in competition with one of the most psychologically addictive products ever invented. Once students acknowledge that, they may be more open to planning intentional smartphone use – at least until the Junior or Leaving Cert is over.