1 . We use our smart phones to carry out many tasks every day. Many of us have become so reliant on them. However, it is bad for our eyes and health to use too much phone.

A study shows that smart phone owners usually start to use their phones early in the morning. They check personal emails and Wechat. And before they get out of bed, many people often check the weather, read the news, and send a message or two to friends. After getting up, they often take photos of food, themselves, and even whatever they can see with their phones. They share their photos with their friends. The research finds that users pick up their phones more than l, 500 times to do different tasks in an average (通常的) week. And the smart phone users are on their phone for three hours and sixteen minutes a day. That is to say, people use their phones for almost one full day each week.

Using phones will take much time and it’s also bad for our health. Many people stay up late to play phones, and mobile phones will influence our sleep. Without using the phones, many people will feel sad. Many owners also find they use their phones without realizing they’re doing so. How do you think people use their phones too much?

I remember the first time I suggested screen-free days in our school to some of our student leaders. Jokingly, I said to the group, “What do you think if we go a week without using our laptop s or smartphones?”

They laughed, and one of them said, “No way, Mr. White. They would be too much.” I could feel their worry, and told them that I was only thinking about single screen-free days. Even that idea left them feeling upset.

According to a survey we did, most students in our school spend about six hours a day on screens. Many of my students start their day by checking their smartphones. I often see them looking at their phones when getting off the bus or at parents’ drop-off, they can’t use their own “screens” at school. They usually work on computers at school for at least two hours during the day.

It’s clear that our students spend a lot of time on screens. We do see the benefits of technology. However, we teachers also want to make sure that students have balanced learning and social experiences away from their screens. That’s why we have come up with the idea of screen-free days.

During the course of the year, we have built in several screen-free days that require us to make different plans for our students about how they will communicate with one another and the world around them without “screens”. For some teachers, this means bringing back a valuable lesson plan that has been put off for some time because it is “out of date”. Others have designed something completely new.

Fun activities, for example, card games and room escape (密室逃脱) games, are organized at school. In these activities, students socialize without smartphones and have face-to-face communication without checking on “likes” they’ve got online. These fun activities also make it possible for the whole grade to enjoy the company of their friends with no smartphones.

After our first screen-free day, students mentioned that they were surprised they enjoyed it. Finding ways to help our students connect with one another is important.

While technology is already part of our world, it shouldn’t play such an important role in a learner’s life.

Screen-Free Days

What did people do to communicate in ancient times? Here are some very interesting answers to this question.

Alphorns (阿尔卑斯长号角) were once used to communicate in the mountains in Switzerland. They are very long and they are very heavy, too. So, alphorns are hard work to blow. Then why use them? Well, they make a loud sound which travels much further than the human voice. Herdsmen (牧民) used them to call cows in the distance for milking. At sunset, alphorns were also used to send a message down to villagers that all was well. These days, they’re mostly used as musical instruments.

The people of La Gomera, an island in Europe, have their own special way of sending messages from mountain to mountain. They use a whistled (口哨的) language called el silbo, which comes from their language Spanish. Whistling can be heard within five kilometers, which means it can be used across much greater distances than shouting. El silbo can be used for all kinds of messages, including greetings and announcements. El silbo is used a lot less than it used to be, but primary school students in La Gomera have to learn it.

Did you know it’s also possible to send messages without making a noise? This is called visual communication, and it includes the use of flags and even smoke. Long ago, soldiers along the Great Wall China used smoke as a warning. If they noticed the enemy from their signal (信号) tower, they lit a smoky fire. When soldiers in other towers saw the smoke signal, they lit fires too. In this way, messages about the enemy’s arrival could travel as far as 800 km in just a few hours.

6 . Recently children have been told to buy traditional alarm clocks instead of mobile phones to wake them up in the morning. Schools will advise pupils to turn off mobile phones or iPads in the evening to have enough sleep.

Researchers from a charity say that using internet-connected devices (装置) in the evening can prevent children getting more rest. Moreover, they advise that school children should invest in a real alarm clock to make sure that they get a good night’s sleep and arrive at school on time.

① The study shows that 40% pupils in primary schools can now hardly get on well without these devices. About two-thirds of pupils have a habit of taking mobile phones to bed at night.

② The study also shows that girls are more interested in mobile phones than boys and often use the Internet to talk to friends by social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. One girl aged 12 said “I have been told that I am addicted (上瘾的) to the Internet and like being online instead of being with other people.”

③ A girl of 13 told researchers “I can’t imagine (想象) if someone takes my iPad away. I walk around the house with it even though it’s not turned on. I just like being with it.” Another girl added “Sometimes I can’t sleep without using the mobile phone at night.”

④ The charity which was set up to promote (推动) iPads in the classroom has now given some advice to protect children from being affected by electronic (电子的) devices.

7 . Most of us cannot imagine modern life without social media (社交媒体). We use it almost every day in order to keep up with what is happening in our friends’ lives, or find out the latest information. Although it has a bad influence if we don’t use it properly, social media has done more good than harm.

The greatest advantage is that we can connect with people much more easily. We are still able to keep in touch with our friends if they are far away. With social media, friendship goes beyond geography. We are able to find friends old and new. Also, it makes it easier for us to make friends, especially for those who are afraid of making friends face to face. Are you shy? If yes, social media has probably helped.

Social media is also ideal for making yourself heard. Anyone with a voice can express it. Anyone with a talent is free to show it. Everyone is the new content creator. Moreover, anyone with a smartphone and the Internet can be a reporter. As a result, it has become much faster to cover the news than ever before.

Social media, on the other hand, can make us less confident sometimes. A 2021 study published by the Public Library of Science, found that the more a person uses social media, the sadder he feels about his own life. One reason for this is that people around us put colourful information and perfect pictures online in order to show off their best moment. So we often get a distorted sense of how wonderful their lives are compared to our own.

Social media does not cause sadness; it simply provides another tool for us to use. Is it good or bad? Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says, “What is interesting is the power and influence of social media ... We must try to use social media in a good way.” After all, you decide how you use this powerful tool.

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8 . Do you know how websites make money? Here is a basic version. Websites produce content (内容) and get people to click on it. They make money from the companies that put ads (广告) around that content. The more clicks the content gets, the more money the website makes. In this way, websites can survive without charging their users.

However, this way of making money is now under threat. It’s clear that people don’t like reading ads. More and more internet users are installing ad-blockers on their computers. In 2010, only 21 million people used ad-blockers. Now, the number has grown to nearly 200 million. These pieces of software “block” ads on web pages. They help people focus on what they want to read.

Websites used to pay little attention to the rise of ad-blocking. After all, most people use the internet on their smartphones. It was impossible to install ad-blockers on smartphones.

Now, things have changed. Today, ad-blockers are among the best-selling software in Apple’s App Store. It’s not hard to understand why they are so popular. With ad-blockers, internet users can have a “cleaner” internet. The software can also save them money. Ads usually take lots of data (流量) to load (加载).

Websites are already talking to their readers about this ad-blocking trend (趋势). On some websites, users are being greeted with the message: “Please turn off your ad-blocker!” They are told that it is the ads that help the website survive. Such a message may help people understand how websites make money. However, ad-blockers are still popular. It seems that people just don’t want to look at ads, no matter whether they know the importance of ads to websites or not!

9 . Look around and you’ll see people busy on their smartphones. Smartphones do make our lives easier. But have you ever thought about what they mean to your eyes?

According to a study, half of British people own smartphones and they spend an average (平均) of two hours a day using them. There has been a 35% increase in the number of people in the UK who suffer from shortsightedness (近视) since smartphones were introduced there in 1997.

Staring (盯) at smartphones for long time gives you dry eyes. When looking at something in the distance, your eyes automatically blink (自动眨眼) a certain number of times. However, when you look at things closer to your face, the blinking slows down. This reduces the amount of tears and causes discomfort in your eyes. Another bad habit is using smartphones in dark rooms before going to sleep. If you look at a bright screen while your pupils (瞳孔) become larger, too much light enters your eyes. This can do harm to the eyes and cause a disease called glaucoma (青光眼).

While you’re probably not going to stop using to your smartphone, there are a few things you can do to protect your eyes. Hold your phone at least 30 centimetres away from your eyes when using it. Take a break every hour and try the following: look at something at least five meters from you and then focus on the tip of your nose. Repeat this several times. It should reduce the discomfort in your eyes.

10 . Your smart phone may seem like the centre of your entertainment, but a Kent State University study shows that too much phone use is taking the fun right out of our spare time.

Researchers watched a group of nearly 500 students and recorded their daily smart phone use. Those who were considered in the “high-use” group experienced more stress during their spare time than the other group.

So what can we do in order to really take advantage of our spare time? We have collected the following activities that also take a few hours to complete, but best part of all, you’ll improve your health in the process.

Whether you’re at home or on holiday, it’s important to disconnect from the Wi-Fi. Walking in nature can do good to your health. As a professional (职业的) traveler, Samantha Brown put it in a recent passage “I put my map in my back pocket, put down my phones and take a good, long walk. Just walk around.”

Go to bed earlier. What can help improve your mood? Extra sleep naturally. Getting the right number of sleep is very important to our health and studies show that we don't get enough of it.

Read a book. And let yourself get lost in a good story. Research shows that reading can reduce stress, keep your brain sharp and can even help you sleep better. Everyone should spend at least 30 minutes reading every day.

Putting a pen to paper is a good exercise. Try writing down your thoughts. Writing has a lot of health advantages, Besides, writing down your thoughts may even help clear your mind.