Screens, Sitting, and the Health Cost of Not Moving Enough
Many Canadians aren’t moving enough. Statistics Canada’s latest directly measured data found that youth aged 12 to 17 are now the least active age group, with only 21% meeting physical activity recommendations in 2022 to 2024, down from 36% in 2018 to 2019. Adults are also spending long hours sedentary, averaging 9.3 hours per day sitting, reclining, or lying down.
This isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault. In many cases, sitting is an inescapable part of daily life. Work happens at a computer. School assignments need to be typed out. Banking, shopping, entertainment, communication, and even health appointments often take place on a screen. For parents, screens can feel like the only practical way to keep the kids out of trouble while you’re juggling work, caregiving, and household responsibilities.
Screens are undeniably useful, but they aren’t harmless. Sedentary time has become so normal that many of us barely notice how much of the day we spend sitting. We work on a laptop, scroll on a phone during breaks, watch a show to unwind, check the news, answer messages, and then go to bed wondering why we feel tired, stiff, anxious, or disconnected from our own bodies.
The good news is that you have more influence over your sedentary time than you think. You may not be able to quit your desk job or remove screens from your life, but small, realistic changes will help your body, mind, and family move more often and reap the health benefits.
Why Excessive Sedentary Time Matters
Weight Gain and Long-Term Health
Sedentary habits make it harder for the body to stay healthy over time. Statistics Canada notes that physical activity and sedentary behaviour are among the key factors associated with obesity, even though the causes of obesity are complex.
The same report also points out the real thing to watch out for: low-activity habits that lead to health challenges later in life. Habits formed in adolescence tend to become the default. A teenager who spends most of the day sitting at school, then sitting with homework, then sitting with recreational screens, may not simply “grow out of it.” Without support and better routines, inactivity becomes a pattern that follows them into work, parenting, aging, and everyday life.
For adults, the concern is not only weight. Physical activity is linked to lower risks of chronic disease and premature mortality, as well as better mental health. Movement isn’t just about burning calories. It helps preserve strength, mobility, balance, energy, and the ability to participate fully in life.
Children Missing Important Developmental Experiences
Screens are especially concerning for young children because childhood development depends on movement, exploration, play, and interaction. Vitalité Health Network warns that prolonged screen exposure carries documented risks for children’s physical and mental health, safety, and overall development. It also notes that between ages 0 and 5, children learn mainly through interacting with their environment, and excessive screen presence limits those essential experiences.
Early childhood is about much more than keeping them entertained. They need to crawl, climb, run, touch, build, pretend, fall, try again, and interact with others. These experiences help build coordination, language, confidence, self-regulation, and social connection. When screens replace too much of that active exploration, children may miss the kinds of developmental practice that no app can fully replace. This doesn’t mean every moment of screen time is harmful; it only means they shouldn’t become the default babysitter, reward, comfort tool, or substitute for real-world play.
Adults benefit from this same principle. We may not be developing as much as children, but our mental, social, and physical health benefits from real-life experiences and interactions we can’t get from an app.
Mental Health, Social Media, and the News Cycle
Sedentary screen time also affects mental and emotional health. Vitalité Health Network specifically highlights concerns about screens and social media, calling for responsible screen use and greater caution around their effects on children and youth.
At the same time, while social media connects people, it also exposes users to comparison, pressure, conflict, unrealistic body images, harmful trends, and endless notifications. News consumption also becomes emotionally heavy when people spend long periods scrolling through crisis, conflict, outrage, and uncertainty. For young people who are still developing identity, emotional regulation, and critical thinking, this constant exposure can be especially difficult. Adults aren’t immune, either; adding the weight of the world to their already long list of responsibilities quietly leads to mental health challenges such as depression and burnout.
What appears on the screen is only part of the problem. The other half is what screen time often replaces: sleep, outdoor play, unstructured creativity, face-to-face friendship, family conversation, and movement. When screens take over those spaces, mental and physical health suffer even when the content itself is harmless.
Sleep, Eye Strain, and the Body’s Need for Recovery
Screens can also interfere with rest. Vitalité recommends avoiding screen exposure before bedtime, a simple reminder that the timing of screen use matters, not just the total amount. Late-night scrolling can make it harder to wind down, and the emotional stimulation of messages, videos, games, or news keeps the mind alert when it needs to settle.
Many people also experience eye strain, headaches, dry eyes, neck tension, and poor posture after prolonged use of technology. These symptoms may seem minor at first, but they compound into significant health challenges that are uncomfortable and also a hindrance to one’s daily activities.
What You Can Do About It
Addressing the health concerns associated with screen use can seem tricky. On one hand, it’s easy to see the risks and the appeal of rejecting screens entirely. On the other hand, many of us would have to admit that we can’t live without them in the modern world.
The solution, then, isn’t to reject technology but to put screens back in their proper place.
Start by looking honestly at your recreational screen time. Work and school may require screens, but scrolling, streaming, gaming, and browsing often take more time than we realise. If you feel like you don’t have time to exercise, it may be worth asking whether screens are quietly taking the time that movement needs.
Reducing recreational screen time solves two problems at once. You sit less, and you create space to move more. A 30-minute walk, a family bike ride, a stretch break, a fitness class, or time outside with friends can replace a block of screen time while improving energy, mood, and connection.
For families, Vitalité suggests respecting screen-time recommendations, avoiding screens before bed, not routinely using screens to distract or reward children, and creating spaces where young people can move and be creative. It also encourages adults to model healthy behaviour, since children learn by watching how parents and caregivers use phones, especially during meals, conversations, and shared family time.
For adults, building healthier habits is like a game: find as many small ways as you can to naturally build movement into your day. This could mean taking walking meetings, standing between tasks, stretching while watching television, using stairs when possible, walking for short errands, or setting a reminder to move every hour. Statistics Canada also points to time outdoors, active transportation, strength training, and flexibility training as practical ways to add more movement to daily life.
The most important step is making activity easy to begin. You don’t have to become a different person overnight. You just need a realistic plan that helps you interrupt long sitting, reclaim time from screens, and choose movement often enough that it becomes part of who you are.
A Healthier Story Starts With One Step
Excessive sedentary time is a real health concern for Canadians of all ages. The risks permeate many aspects of life, from mental health to long-term fitness.
But this story isn’t finished. You can reduce recreational screen time, move more during your day, help children build healthier habits, and create a home or workplace where movement feels normal again.
This summer, take one simple step toward a more active life by joining the Let’s Move Canada Challenge, a Canada-wide initiative that helps people get active with their community. You don’t have to be an athlete to join; you just have to be willing to take that first step.