Dr. Faye Begetti

Technology should be integrated into absolutely everything.

And I think the pendulum has swung too far the other way.

That we're now very anxiety driven and we feel that technology has caused a lot of problems.

And I think we could do with just coming back to the center.

So the way I see it, there's certainly many, many challenges with technology.

Phones can certainly be habit forming and they can be very distracting depending on how people use them.

But it's not the case that the situation cannot be salvaged or it is outside our control.

So I think people, this has to be done at an individual level.

There is no figure for screen time that comes out in scientific research that I can prescribe for everybody.

Some people certainly spend a lot of time on screens and it has no adverse impact on them.

And some people are negatively impacted despite not spending very much time at all.

It all comes down to what you're accessing.

Are you accessing content that's detrimental to you?

And there are some things in the literature that show a really negative effect.

And those things are accessing self-harm content and cyberbullying.

And those things are very negatively impacting on people.

And certainly if anybody is in that situation, they should seek help.

But apart from that, it comes down to the individual.

And what one person finds motivating, somebody else may well find triggering.

So it's important to monitor the content you access.