April 29, 2021

Screens: Are They Ruining Our Brains and Mental Health and Eyes and

by Science Vs

Background show artwork for Science Vs

Tons of us are spending waaaayyy more time using screens these days — and it’s freaking us out. We’ve got all kinds of worries. Like, is all this screen time rotting kids’ brains? Is social media destroying our mental health? And then there’s our eyes. Our eyes!! Are all these screens ruining them too?! To find out, we speak to psychologist Dr. Brenna Hassinger-Das, communication studies researcher Dr. Natalie Pennington and optical physicist Dr. Maitreyee Roy.  


Check out the transcript here: https://bit.ly/2Rfp0I4


This episode was produced by Michelle Dang with help from Wendy Zukerman, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn, Nick DelRose and Taylor White. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Eva Dasher. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Haley Shaw, Peter Leonard, Marcus Bagala, Emma Munger, and Bobby Lord. A huge thanks to all the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Professor Seang Mei Saw, Professor Mark Rosenfield, Dr. Cristian Talens Estarelles, Dr. Rebecca Brand, Professor Wallace Dixon and Dr. Deborah Kloska. And thanks to all of our wonderful listeners who sent us messages about their screen use! It was so lovely to hear from all of you! And special thanks to Khairi, KC, and Makai Williams, Christina Couch and Lillian Adams, and Connie and Sekwan Walker, Kendra Pierre-Louis, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.