Victoria Day is right around the corner, approaching this coming Monday, May 18. Here’s what will be open and closed around UW.

Most UW Food Services locations on campus will be closed, including Brubakers, Browsers Café, Evergreen Café, Liquid Assets Café, CEIT Café, Jugo Juice, as well as all Tim Hortons and Starbucks. Some locations such as The Market (Claudette Miller hall) will remain open over the holiday.

All libraries on and off campus will also be closed. These include the Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries, as well as all branches of the Waterloo and Kitchener Public Libraries. The Fitness Centre and other athletics facilities will be closed on campus, and will not be operational.The Student Life Centre will remain open, including the Turnkey Desk and Flock Stop.

Some locations off campus will remain open for students to enjoy their long weekend. Conestoga Mall will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Kitchener’s Fairview Park Mall will also be open on Monday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

With the first week of spring term already in the books, now is the perfect time to explore fun activities in the region before assignments and deadlines really start to pile up. From movie marathons to fresh flowers, let’s dive into this long weekend’s lineup of events.

If you’re looking to gather some fresh blooms for your space or shop around for a variety of vegetables, visit the Ken Seiling Waterloo Region Museum this Saturday, May 16 for the Heritage Plant sale. This event is running from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.; no registration or fee needed to attend. Plant sales are running while supplies last. The sale is also a fundraising event for the FRIENDS of the Waterloo Region Museums.

Head over to the Princess Cinema this Sunday, May 17, for a nostalgic movie marathon of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, to celebrate its 25th anniversary. This cinematic afternoon kicks off at noon and runs until 11:40 p.m. Two breaks will be provided between films. A 30-minute break will follow the first film and a longer 75-minute dinner break will be offered prior to the third film. Non-members can expect to pay $40 plus a $1.50 online fee. Further details can be found on the Princess Cinema’s event page.

On Monday, May 18 from 7 to 8 p.m., get ready for some dancing! Remix Swing on King street in Waterloo is offering shuffle dance classes. You’ll spend the hour improving your footwork and dance moves in this beginner-friendly class. No prior experience required. University students receive 10% off admission. Tickets are $28.25 and can be purchased on the Remix Swing Eventbrite page.

Rory Norris, the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) Vice President of Government Stakeholder Relations, has been elected president of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). Running on a platform based on student affordability after recent OSAP cuts to student grants, Norris aims to increase visibility for OUSA and amplify student voices.

OUSA is an organization consisting of nine student associations in Ontario, including WUSA. Elected WUSA representatives, including Norris, form part of the OUSA steering committee.  The election process for OUSA executive positions begins at the student bodies of each member organization. At UW, an elected WUSA executive joins the steering committee. Afterwards, members of the steering committee elect a president in mid-May who serves until April 30 of the following year.

His platform ran primarily on combatting the inaccessibility of post-secondary education from OSAP changes and the loss of student union independence due to Bill 33 amendments. Other platform points include addressing rising living costs that impact student affordability and increasing OUSA visibility among students.

Rory Norris, WUSA VP and OUSA president-elect. (Photo credit: WUSA)

Norris had previously advocated on these issues during his tenure as WUSA president from May 2023 to April 2024, leading the Board of Directors and supporting student advocacy on the municipal and provincial levels. “I told myself something very clearly [that] I would never run for elected office again,” Norris wrote in his OUSA platform of his thoughts after his tenure as president. Despite this, Norris has continued his involvement in student advocacy and policy work.

Norris stated that his plans as incoming OUSA president are broken down into four key areas, the first of which is enhancing the visibility of OUSA as an organization.

“Students don’t necessarily know what’s going on with OUSA; it operates at … more of an arm’s length,” he observed. Norris explains that he plans to tackle this issue through campus visits and better student interaction through social media. Other matters he will focus on include the impact of Bill 33, student affordability, and reducing student union fees to OUSA.

Regarding the last point, Norris believes that “OUSA is, from a budget perspective, at a pretty healthy place.” According to the new president-elect, OUSA has enough reserves to “cover … two years of expenses without needing to charge those membership fees anymore.” An alternative he mentioned is using certain funding for campaigns of interest, like the ongoing fight against OSAP aid cuts.

When asked about concerns regarding balancing responsibilities between OUSA and WUSA, Norris stated that although another full-time VP at WUSA will help shoulder the workload, he will “probably end up working more hours than [he] would have if [he] did take on this role.” He then went on to state that “the combinations of these two pieces will sort of come into play where, yes, I spend … more time supporting this external organization to which we are a member, but at the same time, I am still making sure I’m committed to my duties and responsibilities.”

Norris has two messages for readers: encouraging students to get involved and building meaningful connections that they can take with them as they depart post-secondary education.

And finally, Norris encourages student advocacy so that constituents can push and fight for the changes they would like to see. He hopes they ask themselves, “how can they look at a problem that exists in the world and start to work towards advocating for a solution?”

After three years of organizing and negotiations, CUPE Local 5524, the union representing graduate student workers and sessional instructors at UW, has finally ratified collective agreements for its members. The new agreements for Unit 0 and Unit 1 are retroactively effective from May 1, 2023 and currently in effect until May 1, 2027.

“This is an excellent first contract and a very good contract in general,” says Scott Sørli, president of CUPE 5524 and member of the bargaining committee for Unit 0, the local’s subunit representing sessional faculty. Both contracts include minimum wage raises, formal grievance procedures, and other policies the union hopes will improve job security and working conditions.

CUPE 5524 was first certified as a union in January 2023, originally made up of sessional faculty, after 86.1 per cent of eligible voters voted to unionize. The local expanded to include graduate student TAs and RAs under a second subunit, Unit 1, in early 2024, with 95.1 per cent voting in favor.

What followed was a longer and more drawn-out process than expected. After delays in assembling the employer’s bargaining committee to negotiate Unit 1 contract items, both parties negotiated shared items and language that applied to both Unit 0 and Unit 1 last summer. In August, union representatives reported that the employer intended to refuse bargaining Unit 1 contract items until after Unit 0 items were finalized, contrary to a previous verbal agreement. That and minimal meaningful engagement in negotiations during the bargaining window sparked an e-action campaign in late August, which CUPE 5524 hoped would push the university to come to the table in good faith.

In October 2025, the union came close to striking as perceived stonewalling continued. CUPE 5524 held a larger members’ meeting to discuss the possibility of picketing, but in November, turnover in members on the employer’s bargaining committee helped avert a walkout.

“After that, bargaining was astronomically faster for getting much more reasonable and much more frequent passbacks from the employer,” states Erin Silver, vice president of Unit 1 and member of the unit’s bargaining committee. “They were willing to meet up and discuss issues much more readily.” Imprint reached out to the university for a response, but they declined to comment on the matter.

Negotiations continued steadily in the months after, with bargaining sessions sometimes going late into the night. Sørli recalls that one Unit 0 session ended at 10:30 p.m. on a Friday night. The final bargaining session for Unit 1, which entailed negotiating wages and administrative oversight over TA and RA assignments to undergraduate students, lasted 19 hours, ending at around 5:30 a.m. on Jan. 27. 

“We could see that there was going to be agreement from both sides coming forward,” Sørli recalls. “Once there starts to be some kind of velocity at the table in terms of the final issues, you really don’t want to leave the room.”

Both parties finalized tentative agreements for Unit 0 on Jan. 9 and Unit 1 on Jan. 30, with members voting to ratify the documents on Feb. 3 and Feb. 25 respectively. Members voted overwhelmingly in favor of the new contracts and had a highly positive response. “I think everyone, the employer as well as the union, was really looking forward to com[ing] to an agreement at the end,” says Sørli.

While UW declined to comment on the details of the bargaining process, the university said in a statement to Imprint that the ratification is “an important development for the university community and was achieved thanks to the hard work of both CUPE 5524 and the university bargaining teams,” with the agreements “[reflecting] the mutual priorities of both parties.” Both documents will be available on UW’s Human Resources website, where collective agreements with other bargaining units and associations are posted.

As for what is in the ratified agreements, union leadership believes that the contracts codify hard-won victories that will make it more sustainable for their members to study and work at UW.

Communications director and math graduate student Gaia Noseworthy has emphasized that the Unit 1 contract’s new clauses will protect funding and job security for graduate students. “There was a long history in the past [where], if you got other funding, you start losing your [teaching assistantships] or TA funding, and one of our biggest items was to remove that,” says Noseworthy. Typically, graduate students in doctoral or research-based master’s programs will receive TA or RA appointments as part of their funding package. These graduate students may also be eligible to receive additional funding, like the tri-agency scholarship from Canada’s three major research councils that oversee academic research funding.

“Something that used to happen to a lot of [graduate] students here is, if they were to gain one of these big scholarships … you would lose all of your other funding sources,” Noseworthy said. The new Unit 1 contract prevents the loss of TA or RA employment that would offset funding from other sources, so the total funding given to a graduate student is expected to increase rather than remain unchanged in these circumstances.

Another section Noseworthy highlights is a seniority clause for TA and RA positions. Graduate students typically are guaranteed a minimum number of TA or RA appointments to help fund their studies for a fixed number of years. Under the new agreement, graduate student TAs and RAs who have worked longer are prioritized for new positions. This includes graduate students who are studying beyond that initial duration, “meaning people who might be struggling financially because of this decision are much less likely to face struggles throughout the latter [part] of their degree.”

In addition to job security, the new agreement also enforces higher wages for its members. Silver cites that the agreement gives all members a minimum increase of 2.8 per cent in wages. Effective May 1, graduate TAs now have a minimum hourly wage of $51.53. Master’s research assistants are paid at least $49.14, and PhD research assistants are paid $58.46. Graduate students who were paid higher rates prior to May 1 will not see their wages decrease.

For sessional faculty, incremental wage raises have been negotiated. A sessional instructor who began teaching on or after May 1, 2023 would be paid a minimum of $8,910 per 0.5 credit. That wage increases by 3 per cent for courses taught in 2024, another 3 per cent in 2025, and a 2.5 per cent increase in 2026 for a current rate of $9,688.93 per 0.5 credit. That minimum, Sørli says, “is better than what most universities are getting right now for sessionals,” and is a step towards alleviating financial pressure during a struggling economy and high living costs.

Kavi Duvvoori, CUPE 5524’s recording secretary and English PhD student, is particularly glad to now have a formal grievance process for members. “We’ve seen situations across the university where … really devastating demands were being put on people,” says Duvvoori. “Sometimes that looks like TAs being asked to do dozens of hours of extra work that conflict with their own work as students and researchers.” With explicit timelines and policies for each stage, Duvvoori hopes members will be better protected against exploitation in the workplace, “but even more importantly, teach the lesson that there is accountability even for workers that are lower in the hierarchy, and … prevent these situations from happening.”

So what’s next for CUPE 5524? While the agreements are a good first step, one priority of renegotiations in 2027 is securing benefits for members, like health insurance and pension plans. The current agreements pay a rebate to members at the end of each term in lieu of benefits, totalling $100 for graduate student employees and $200 for sessional faculty members.

In the meantime, union leadership has shifted their focus to enforcing the collective agreements, like helping members obtain backpay and continuing outreach to the wider UW community. Duvvoori notes that prior to joining CUPE 5524, many members have had little experience or knowledge in advocacy and organized action.

“Canadian labor law contexts and histories of labor are not shared by everyone,” Duvvoori states. “One important part is just explaining how democratic, member-led unions work for everyone involved [and] showing through this process that coming together with your coworkers to try to improve conditions … can provide concrete results within a reasonable time frame.”

As for working within the institution itself, Sørli says, “every department has operated as a little bit of an isolated fiefdom,” where one department’s policies and practices differ from the next. “It’s been an interesting experience and challenge to begin to communicate a standardized contract … to those various departments that operate in extremely different ways.”

CUPE 5524 also hopes to continue its strong working relationships with other non-member groups at UW, like its sibling chapter CUPE 793, UWSA, FAUW, and WUSA. Noseworthy observes that many undergraduate students in particular have volunteered or plan to become members when they start graduate studies at UW. “Almost every undergrad student I’ve talked to really does understand why we’re doing this … they’re surprised that some of their teachers are in conditions that are so economically unsustainable, and they want to support them in some way.”

Ultimately, the local hopes to strengthen the culture of solidarity, inclusion, and collective action in the UW community, especially during uncertain times. “It’s really important that we allow ourselves to ask the question of what a good university would look like — a university that really provides for the needs and hopes” of the campus community and society at large, says Duvvoori. “At its best, this process allows us to ask that question and pursue it in a democratic and member-led way, rather than one that just depends on what the Premier decides or what big companies decide.”

Noseworthy encourages readers to volunteer for causes they are passionate about, especially local organizations. “You don’t need to spend 20 hours a week. It can be two, and that will still make a difference.” They stress that there are other ways to contribute outside of donations, as “sometimes money is not the biggest problem you can face, [but] having people to use that money … to try and build a better world.”

“I had been sick for the whole week. I was having a bout of insomnia, and hadn’t had more than 2 hours of sleep in like 48 hours. I was surviving off a coffee and five packs of honey from the SLC Tim Horton’s and I had to host one of our open mic shows in that state.” 

This was how UW comedy club co-exec Gursher Baath (fondly) described his worst standup comedy fail. 

When asked about how he ended up getting through this particularly disastrous open mic, Baath said, “When I watched back the video, I was messing up the order of words and my joke timing was off, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. That’s kinda the lesson there, like everything can go wrong in your set, and it will still turn out okay. It’s not that bad as you think it is, you’re going to walk out of it just fine,”  

The UW comedy club is made up of students by day and some pretty funny comedians by night. “Our main goal was to introduce comedy to a lot of the students because a lot of people don’t really know much about stand up comedy. We wanted to build a community of people who wanted to do and watch comedy,” Owen Stephenson said, another club co-exec. 

What started off with booking out classrooms for open mics has expanded to open mics in bigger venues on campus. The club also runs joke writing sessions, and comedy workshops hosted by external Canadian comedians. 

The club open mic nights usually occur once a month somewhere on campus, such as the Grad House and the SLC Bomber Pub. Not only are these nights a great showcase of the comedic talent we have at UW, but also a cool opportunity to dip your toes into doing a little bit of your own standup if you have ever been curious. 

As another club co-exec Sneha Sridhar said, “Comedy doesn’t have the best reputation of being friendly to newcomers, so it’s nice to have a safe space where people do comedy. The UW Comedy Club kind of does a really good job of being a very supportive and safe space for people to try out new things.” 

While the open mic nights give people a good opportunity to do stand up in front of an audience to hone their performance skills, another equally important aspect of comedy is writing jokes and telling a coherent story. “We host write and chill sessions somewhat regularly, so that people who have never done comedy before can kind of build up their confidence,” Stephenson said about their efforts to incorporate other aspects of comedy into the club. “It’s essentially just kind of a low pressure place where you can meet other people and discuss what you’re working on if you want to take a stab at writing comedy. You can bounce some ideas off of other people and get suggestions for your joke,” Sridhar said about these write and chill sessions. 

Attending many of these events held by the UW comedy club got me thinking: is there a reason people are drawn to watching and doing standup comedy, beyond just for laughs? When asked about the significance of comedy in general, Baath responded with the following: “Humour in itself is a fundamental pillar of life, of being human. It’s a communal thing that brings people together. Being in the room with another student or friend and hearing them joke is mainly what I hope we provide with our shows and events,”. “It’s all about bringing Student Life back into the Student Life Centre,” adds club secretary Avri Jeffcott jokingly. 

Going beyond student comedians, the club also has local comedians in the area perform at their open mics, which provides a fresh perspective to the jokes that are told, as well as some pretty cool opportunities to learn more about the comedy scene as a whole. These professional comedians are also invited to other events, such as their write and chill sessions, with their most recent session hosting a joke writing workshop by local KW comedian Lukas Swore. 

I was curious to learn more about the KW comedy scene, and what kinds of events were up and running in the area beyond campus. I was able to reach out to two external comedians. Renee Groux, one of the local comedians that has performed at a UW comedy club open mic, is currently working as a co-producer of Girl Night. Girl Night hosts regular live comedy events in the KW region that showcases famous women comedians, as well as those who are up and coming in the comedy scene. Matt Render is another local comedian that has performed at UW comedy club events, who is currently on a comedy tour of the GTA. 

When asked why people are drawn to watching and doing comedy, Render responded: “I like the idea of seeing people just speak honestly and candidly without any type of pretense. Being philosophical but also being able to be lighthearted and humorous is something I find refreshing about comedy. It’s something that has helped me through the hardest times in my life.”

Groux echoed a similar sentiment: “The most skilled version of doing comedy is not just to tell the audience who you are, but to tell the audience something about themselves. I think that’s the number one thing people are looking for, to be seen for who they are. That’s my goal and that’s when I feel I’ve done a good job.” 

With much of the leadership within the UW comedy club graduating, they are looking for students to join the club and carry on with hosting these events on campus. If you’ve ever found yourself interested in watching (or maybe even doing) a little bit of standup comedy, reach out to the UW comedy club at @uwcomedy to see how you can get involved in the coming terms. Regardless of what ends up happening, you will definitely enjoy yourself, and hopefully, even laugh a little. 

At the end of a school year where many Warriors set records or brought their teams on impressive postseason runs, 880 UW student-athletes, administrative staff, coaches, and guests sat at the edge of their seats at the end of the 64th annual Athletic Awards Banquet to see who won the evening’s most coveted awards: the Totzke and Marsden trophies for male and female athlete of the year; respectively.

Following the nominees for the Totzke trophy, PhD student Cameron Seth was announced as the recipient, the first time a squash athlete has won the award since Eric Dingle in 2009. He stayed on stage and joined third-year Niki Shemirani in making UW history when she received the Marsden trophy, making her the first squash player to do so since Micaala Seth, Cameron’s sister, in 2013. 

The pair shared a hug and a round of applause from all in attendance before walking off. The duo is the first squash pair to win both of the awards in the same year. After each securing the OUA MVP awards for women’s and men’s squash with a combined record of 11 wins and no losses, it’s easy to see why. 

“We’re great friends,” says Seth. “We train together all the time,” added Shemirani.

Niki Shemirani 

Shemirani is entering her fourth year of systems design engineering. (Photo credit: Abdullah Pathan)

Shemirani’s journey to success began in Iran, where she was born and raised. An exuberant and athletic child, her parents enrolled her in sports such as swimming, skating, and skiing before eventually signing her up for squash at 7. She fell in love after the first session and has been playing ever since.

After booking a flight to Toronto at 16, Shemirani faced a new challenge: establishing herself in a community that had grown up together as a foreigner who knew nothing about Canada.

“It was really hard at first,” she says. “These were all people who grew up together and have played together, and I’m good but not exactly at their level.” With aspirations to play on the professional circuit, Shemirani practiced tirelessly before abruptly having to stop when the COVID-19 pandemic began. But pressure can burst a pipe or make a diamond, and she decided she’d become a diamond.

“I’d sit at home and watch YouTube videos to improve my skills, I’d try to go for runs, and it was really cold,” she reminisces. “A lot of people I was playing with quit during or after the pandemic.”

Having sown the seeds to become a great player, she reaped the benefits at 18 when she competed in the Canadian Junior Open (CJO). In a tournament featuring upwards of 300 athletes from 20 countries, Shemirani won the U19 division. She says this is the moment when things began to click for her. Now with a tournament win and her family’s ongoing support, the systems design engineering major was all too happy to join UW’s team when she began university.

She’s left her mark on the program in more ways than one; she’s designed training plans for teammates, is a vocal leader and has only continued to develop as a player. 

In February’s 3-day OUA championship tournament, each athlete played an individual match against one opponent in a best-of-5 format, where team points were awarded based on the results. Most games were incredibly competitive and came down to the wire, except for when Shemirani took the court. Across 6 matches, she won 15 games and lost none, and finished with a field-high rating of 5.71. For comparison, top players worldwide have a rating of 6.0+. But she expects even more of herself; she is the #124-ranked women’s squash player in the world as of the time of this writing, after all.

“I really want to push and see how high I can go [after graduation],” she says. “I’m aiming for top 20 [in the world].”

Despite many extraordinary accomplishments at a young age, she says the moments that have impacted her career and life the most came after losses.

“Sometimes you lose [a close match], and you learn more from those than wins,” she says. “I always think about what I could’ve done better, I reflect. As athletes, sometimes we win and forget everything, but you need to sit down and think about what happened.”

Now entering her fourth year, she plans on “doing it all again” next season. 

“I’m so grateful to have this opportunity to speak, and to have such great coaches and teammates, and an incredibly supportive family,” she says. “It’s great for the squash community [at UW] to see if you put in hours, you’ll get results.”

Cameron Seth

Cameron Seth is in his final year of a five year PhD in computer science. (Photo credit: Abdullah Pathan)

An injury derailing a promising career is every athlete’s deepest fear, but Cameron Seth has never been one to run away from a challenge. He’s conquered professional squash players, completed an undergraduate degree in computer science, and is now pursuing a doctorate. So what was it that threatened to permanently take him off the court? Femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is a genetic condition that causes the hip joints to rub against one another. 

After finishing his first round of schooling in 2016 and walking away with a Shield of Excellence award, Seth played professionally in the Professional Squash Association. He’d already won the CJO when he was 18, and now with nothing but time and resources at his disposal, he increased the intensity of his training. 

Aside from Micaala Seth, Cameron has another sister, a brother, and parents who played squash for UW. The family dynamic and Seth’s individual skill culminated in a professional title in New York in 2019.

“Most athletes will go their entire careers without [a title], and I had to beat two guys who were top 100 in the world to win. I worked really hard and it paid off,” he recalls.

He achieved a peak ranking of 113th in the world before injuries came knocking. His success had come at a price; the pain from FAI and overuse became unbearable, sidelining him for 2.5 years. The normal recovery time is eight months.

“I took time off, then the pandemic happened, and I couldn’t train anyway, so I decided to get my master’s degree,” he says.

After returning to UW to complete his PhD, Seth was overjoyed to return to a team environment. Ten years after he last represented the black and gold, he’d have a chance to measure his skill against younger, more athletic players at the OUA championships. Having sat out so long, he knew he’d need to use skill and experience rather than brute force. Fortunately, skill and experience were all he needed.

Seth won five matches with no losses, and finished with an otherworldly rating of 6.69. His team finished fourth, and after nearly three years of inactivity, Seth had another trophy to add to his cabinet.

Like Shemirani, he accepted the Totzke trophy with poise.

“Sometimes squash isn’t as recognized as some other sports, so to win [the Totzke trophy] and get that recognition, it’s an honour,” he says.

With Shemirani entering her final year and Seth graduating, the squash duo aren’t turning their back on the sport that has defined their lives. Close friends, they’ll be playing in a national tournament in Vancouver at the end of April. Both praise the Warriors’ responsiveness and availability as contributing factors to their triumphs.

“I’ve spoken to athletes at other schools; a lot don’t get much support from their athletics department, so we definitely notice the help we get from ours,” Seth says. “It’s what leads us to having players like [Shemirani], and it’s why we have a good team.”

“[Seth and I] push each other to be better. We won’t get [complacent]. Just because we won awards doesn’t mean we’ll settle down. Athletes get hungrier after success,” Shemirani says about their future ventures. 

The time was dragging on. I had been staring at my laptop screen for hours, finishing the final paper of my last undergraduate course. Focused, yet exhausted by the task and all that time online, I lifted my gaze when a sudden flutter of movement caught my eye. Looking up from my laptop, I was delighted to see a delicate, red-feathered baby bird had decided to perch on my open window sill. The little bird peered inside, met my gaze, and flew away in a flash.

Have you ever thought about all the moments you might miss when you’re distracted by your phone or laptop? From the moment we open our eyes to the moment we close them and finally get some sleep, we’ve likely spent several hours staring at a screen. Whether it’s at school or at a job, screens have become synonymous with getting our work done.

What about when time online begins to overtake our personal time? Though you might not be typing up a midterm paper on Word on your phone in your free time, scrolling through social media or engaging in other ‘leisure’ online activities during every other spare moment might mean unknowingly missing out on moments that just might mean the most.

So, how can we cultivate healthier screentime habits? Denise Marigold, associate professor in social development studies at UW, has lended her insights into what it means to use our screentime mindfully and in ways that can enhance our life and close relationships.

How is screen time affecting your well-being?

Asked how students can distinguish between ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ digital habits, Marigold said they should consider: “When people are using their screen time, what is it taking away from, if anything? What are they doing, or not doing, instead?” She went on to highlight how unhealthier habits are evident when individuals are avoiding responsibilities, such as work or school, or not engaging in regular exercise or in-person interactions. If you’re already a bit anxious about getting out there and interacting in-person, Marigold touched on how escaping through excessive screen time can contribute to escape conditioning: “The more you avoid that thing [that is] giving you anxiety, it just reinforces not doing the thing.”

Ensuring your screentime isn’t a mindless distraction to run from your responsibilities or work lies at the core of understanding whether your relationship with screen is supporting or undermining your well-being. A 2023 PubMed study touched on how research into the hazards of excessive screen time suggests that the physical health consequences are worth paying attention to. As most of us will know, staring at our screens for hours on end can cause eye strain, headaches, and neck, shoulder, and back pain as a result of the poor posture often assumed while on our devices. Likewise, the mental health impact of too much screen time is layered. When we use our devices in a way that leads to reduced face-to-face interactions, we’re much more likely to feel a reduction in our sense of connection with others.

A 2019 study on the effects of excessive screen time neurodevelopment and mental health, published in the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction found that correlations have already been linked to higher screen usage and higher rates of anxiety and depression, among other mood disorders. The impact of blue light on the circadian rhythm can reduce our ability to get quality sleep, in turn increasing our risk of developing a mood disorder. The study suggested that among young people, cognitive development can be negatively impacted by excessive screen use, resulting in poor problem-solving abilities, reduced creativity, and poor attention span. 

If all of that isn’t enough to motivate you to set limits on your recreational screentime,the study found that specifically among young adults aged 18-25, unhealthy and excessive screen time (which the study defined as over 2-3 hours of daily exposure to electronic media, including computer, phone, and television use) led to thinning of the cerebral cortex. This area of the brain manages memory and our ability to effectively make decisions and problem-solve. 

Finally, a 2024 Stanford article describes passive screen time as comparable to “eating sugar but for your brain.” What they mean is that although it ‘tastes’ good, screentime isn’t real ‘nutrition’ for our brains. It’s truly in-person social connection, exercise, quality sleep, and hobbies that don’t make use of screens, that truly give our brains the ‘nutrition’ it needs to operate at its peak and enable us to feel truly well.

How has technology changed our expectations in relationships?

Have you ever texted a friend and expected an immediate reply, only to have them reply hours later? Some of us don’t mind receiving a later response when we reach out to friends through digital means. Our expectations can play a role in determining whether digital communication supports or reduces our sense of closeness and security in our close relationships. 

Marigold touched on this common expectation that people respond to online communication urgently, describing, “there’s often an expectation that people will respond right away, be immediately available, because they have their phones.” She emphasized the need to understand that we may not always be able to speak to someone or receive a response, until we plan a sit-down conversation or reserve time for specific conversations. 

Digital means of communication offer us a buffer in terms of the immediacy in which we reply. Via text, we’re able to take our time when crafting a reply, as opposed to needing to directly respond during in-person conversations. Marigold also described how in heated arguments or conversations, being able to sit with your feelings and response as opposed to blurting out your immediate response in-person, can be a benefit.

Jiah Kaur, a fourth-year biology student, believes technology keeps students connected amid their hectic schedules. She admits however, “I’ve noticed a distinction between being connected and actually feeling connected. While messaging is convenient, it doesn’t always substitute for face-to-face interactions.” Shen went on to emphasize how being overly absorbed in phones when out with others, can distract from the experience. She added, “While screens allow us to reach out to people more easily, they don’t always help us be fully present with them. It’s all about finding the right balance.” 

Asked whether reducing her screentime would improve her quality of life, Rahmah Bacchus, a third-year chemistry student, agreed. She adds, “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to appreciate offline time more than being online. Reducing my screen time would likely improve my overall well-being, eye health, and allow me to spend more time with others in-person.”

Passive (Scrolling) vs. Active engagement: Using social media effectively

There’s often a major difference you’ve already noticed between how you feel when mindlessly scrolling your social media feed, in contrast to how you feel when purposefully, actively engaging in posts or with people you have a sense of connection to. Interestingly, a 2021 journal article published in World Psychiatry, that examined the well-being impact of social networking sites such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, finds that people are spending, on average, over two hours on social networking sites per day. 

As described in this study, the key differentiators between whether all that time online supports our mental health or undermines it, lies in whether two distinct psychological mechanisms are at work. In cases of passive engagement, it is social comparison, specifically upward social comparison (i.e., seeing others as ‘better’) that is tied to feelings of inferiority and envy. Social comparison is at the core of why social media can negatively impact our mental health. In contrast, in active engagement with social media sites, social capital accrual is at the heart of how we can leverage these social platforms and support our well-being. 

Social capital accrual encompasses bonding (instrumental and emotional support tied to our stronger connections) and bridging (the novel perspectives we can accrue through weaker ties). For instance, if you’re using LinkedIn, there can be benefits if you’re actively engaging with close connections or learning about topics that interest you through the posts of weaker ties. If instead you were simply spending your time on LinkedIn, or any social media app, scrolling and comparing accomplishments, you’re much more likely to feel worse. 

How do phones and social media keep us hooked?

The addictive nature of phones and social media is not only tied to the algorithms and designs of apps, but also to the brain chemical dopamine, commonly involved in addiction. Anna Lembke, a Stanford psychologist, has done extensive research in her book Dopamine Nation, into how dopamine and phone addiction play out in today’s world. Addictions often form as a result of quick reward and ease of access, making smartphones and screens the perfect hit of ‘digital dopamine.’ With colorful images, flashing notifications, and endless videos, smartphones and social media offer a limitless supply of visual stimulus. Lembke’s research touches on how the human wiring for connection can make us all the more susceptible to compulsive overconsumption of social media, as we continually engage online for another hit of dopamine. The novelty factor further amplifies the drive to continue our online scrolling. When you finally get off Instagram or TikTok, “the brain is plunged into a dopamine-deficit state as it attempts to adapt to the unnaturally high levels of dopamine social media just released.” As a result, you wind up feeling awful when you finally stopped that one hour scroll, yet felt fine up until the moment you stopped engaging.

Developing digital mindfulness

Despite often knowing that our screentime habits aren’t helping us, the challenge of reducing our time online remains. When asked whether it’s possible to try and push oneself to reduce their screentime, Marigold shared, “With a lot of habit change it can’t just be about willpower, especially when phones and social media are designed to suck us in and addict us.” She went on to describe how social media websites algorithms’ continuous suggestion of videos and posts is an endless loop. She suggested developing external constraints, such as timers that lock you out of your cellphone or even leaving your phone further away, essentially “make it harder to access.” 

However, being compassionate with yourself while working to set boundaries with your screen usage is key. As Marigold emphasized, “It’s designed to be an addictive substance and everyone is challenged with that.” She adds that all things considered, “It’s [about] making sure you have things in your life that are as rewarding, if not more so, than scrolling.” Although it can often be more difficult to get your friends together and coordinate schedules to meet up, Marigold agreed, “it’s worthwhile to put in those efforts to be interacting in the real world.” She also encourages individuals to consider how they feel after an hour of scrolling compared to a walk with a friend, encouraging us to think ahead to how we will feel later when making decisions about our time online.

The first step to ensuring your screentime is adding to your life and enhancing your relationships, might mean developing the self-awareness to question when and why we are choosing to be online. For others, perhaps it is about finding the people and moments that make showing up feel like something you don’t want to miss, because when we’re happiest and most at peace is rarely when we’re online, and is instead when we’re able to pause, be with people we care about, and live in the moment. 

Screens can connect us from halfway across the world to friends and family that mean everything to us. Other times, technology becomes an unhealthy escape, a distraction from challenging emotions you need to face. When you find yourself compulsively reaching for your phone while out with friends, consider pausing, setting it back down, and remembering what it means to be present. In a world where social media and phones can lead us to forget celebrating what we have and what’s already meaningful in our lives, logging out and looking up might just mean spotting a bird outside you’ve never seen before, or discovering moments the online world can’t match.