Could you go a day without screens? Eyesight advocacy group issues a challenge

With a new season around the corner, the idea of starting spring cleaning by addressing screen time habits is something Maritimers admit might be easier said than done.

"I think if I could go 24-hours without my phone, I could just feel overall a lot better about myself, and I'd be really proud,” said Kate Morrison, a Grade 12 student at Breton Education Centre in Cape Breton.

And she isn't opposed to the idea of taking a break.

"I’m busy most of the time with school activities, so I don’t spend too much time on my phone anyway.”

But it appears Morrison may be in the minority.

Doug Earle is with Fighting Blindness Canada — an organization that's issued a challenge this weekend called “Screens off For Sight.”

Earle says it's partly to battle back against bad phone habits built during the pandemic.

He says Statistics Canada data shows that screen time went up about 60 per cent during COVID-19.

"Well, it's a 24-hour challenge that we're issuing to all Canadians to have screens off,” Earle explained.

He says that during the pandemic, children, in particular, were spending on average two hours more per day on screens — in large part due to online learning.

Something that eye specialists his group consults with say can be bad for a person’s eyesight over time.

"They report in the work that they're doing that about 90 per cent of adults experience eye strain," Earle said. “Consistent eye strain over time leads to eye health issues."

For the younger generation that’s been around screens nearly their whole lives, you would think quitting cold turkey, even for a day might be more difficult.

But other high school students CTV News spoke with feel they would be up to the task.

"I try to limit my screen time, but I've never tried to take a full day off,” said Isabella White, also a student at Breton Education Centre. "It would be hard, but I think maybe I could do it."

As for whether Earle considers the idea of 24-hours without screen time a difficult challenge, he was blunt in his response.

"My hand is just shaking thinking about it. Because we're so addicted to our phones and the TV, computer games."

The 24-hour Screens Off for Sight challenge begins when phones go dark on Saturday at 6 p.m.