Screen Time Limiters who spend a significant amount of time on their phones

Morgan Dress, A A copy editor in Orlando, they have severe ADHD, which they say requires them to always “do at least three things at once.” The result? Daily average Screen time Its duration is 18 hours and 55 minutes.

“I’m reading a book Or play a game “From waking up to sleeping,” Dries tells WIRED. What they read comes from the library app Libyanso books count toward the overall screen interaction. Dreiss currently keeps their phone’s auto-lock feature disabled so they can continuously play a mobile game that pays $35 for every 110 hours logged. (They’ve made about $16 so far.)

For years, studies I gave birth Worrying data About the potential negative effects of excessive screen time on both physical and Cognitive health. Concerns about the neurodevelopment and mental health of young people glued to their phones have led to major problems Legislative and Courtroom battles; A jury recently found dead YouTuber responsible To design their platforms with addictive features.

While the question of whether one can be clinical”addicted“To something like social media it remains a topic Fierce disagreementThere seems to be a broad consensus in this decade that people will be better off Scroll less. And on the more extreme end, there is Virtual communities Which shares strategies for Get rid of smartphones and Digital detox retreats Where no notifications can find you.

However, there are people, like Dries, who resist the emerging common wisdom about reducing screen time. You can call them “screenmaxxers”. This does not necessarily mean that they have a comprehensive concept of their customs; Journalist Taylor Lorenz is likely among the minority of filmmakers who yearn for this Place the screen directly inside her brainas she recently admitted to WIRED. It’s just that, for various reasons, they use their devices almost all the time, and they don’t see it as a problem at all.

Part of the equation, of course, is work. Corinna Diaz, 45, lives in a remote, wooded area in Ontario, Canada, and works in video game marketing and does influencer management for a game publisher. “So, I spend a lot of time in front of screens,” she says.

Diaz met her husband online in 2005 and had a child three years ago, and says her screen time increases when she’s awake at odd hours because of her newborn.

But Diaz has sought to make friends online since the 1990s, when that meant taking advantage of tools like Internet Relay Chat and bulletin board systems. “I’ve always felt that screens, phones or otherwise, connect me to things I care about,” she says. “In particular, niche social groups that don’t have much visibility in the mainstream.” Now that she lives two and a half hours outside of Toronto, the nearest major city, her screen has become “a bit of a lifeline for communication,” she says.

Daniel Rios is in a similar situation. A computer programmer, he lives in the South American country where he grew up after living abroad for years. Most of his friends left and never came back.

As a result, Rios stays in touch with people via Discord, his primary social outlet. He doesn’t live in a city, doesn’t get out much, and screens fill his days — though he says it’s “hard to say” exactly how many hours it all adds up. “When I’m not working on the (desktop) computer, I’m playing on it or watching TV,” he says. “If I’m not at the computer, I’m looking at my phone. If I’m not doing any of the above, and I’m out of the house, I’m probably still listening to something on my phone.”