I participated in National Screen-Free Week last year, where you take a break from screens for a planned period of time. I was slightly addicted to screens and thought a week was ridiculous, so I decided to do a day. I chose Monday as the dreaded day – what a way to start the week.
Our whole family participated. The kids were only allowed to use screens for school-related tasks and my husband and I only for work. I allowed myself to go online briefly in the morning to post a few memes and then one or two times during the day to respond to comments, but that was it. No other socializing on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram (gasp!), no Candy Crush (more gasping!) and no Netflix (using inhaler!).
But I made it the whole day! And I was shocked at what I learned about myself.
Screen-Free Week
By the early afternoon, I found myself looking around for things to do. Typically, that’s when I’d get online or play Candy Crush on my phone. I’m never bored. There’s always something to do. There’s always a task to complete, a game to play or a tweet to read. But when you can’t do that thing you typically do, you don’t know what to do. So I did other things. Here’s what I did that I normally wouldn’t have done.
- Walked to the doughnut shop with my kids before school to celebrate going screen-free for a day.
- Read a few chapters from two different books.
- Read four chapters of a book to my son in addition to bedtime reading.
- Read an entire magazine.
- Initiated multiple conversations with my kids that didn’t involve telling them to do something.
- Walked over 10,000 steps.
- Took my kids to the park.
- Took my kids to the library.
- Stared out the window at some trees.
- Made multiple phone calls which I hate to do and always procrastinate on.
- Cooked four pounds of beef.
- Made vegetable soup from scratch.
I might do two or three of these things in a day, but I did all of these things in one day. This was on top of homeschooling two of my three kids.
I accomplished so much and felt less stress. I didn’t realize just how much time I procrastinated on things and got distracted away from life because of my screens.
Prior to that day I was probably spending three to four hours per day on screens that was purely for entertainment, socializing or escapism. This was in addition to work-related screen time (maintaining my blog and social media accounts) and any necessary life-related screen time (searching for a new doctor, checking email, etc.).
I complained of being stressed and overwhelmed all the time and after that day I could see why. It was a little embarrassing. I mean, I knew I was spending a lot of time on the screen, but didn’t realize just how much until I got rid of the screens for a day. I had often been using Candy Crush and Netflix to relax or as an escape from difficult things, but really, it was just causing me more stress.
I woke up that Tuesday morning thinking, I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go back to the way I was before. I don’t want to pick up my phone as soon as I wake up. I didn’t want all that procrastinating and stress back. And I wanted to have a relationship with my kids that was more than just a list of commands.
So I decided to cut back significantly on my screen time for good. I stopped playing Candy Crush and stopped watching so much Netflix.
Sometimes you come off of a fast from something and you feel great – your life is changed. But then you slowly creep back to your normal self. Kind of like a diet. By day four you’re raiding the pantry for those hidden Double-Stuf Oreos.
I found myself slowly creeping back into my old habits after a week. I hadn’t played Candy Crush, but I found myself playing Mahjong and Spider Solitaire. They were less convenient because they weren’t on my phone, but on my iPad, but I could see where things were headed.
That made me realize maintaining my less-screen lifestyle would be a challenge. I’d probably need to make a screen-free day a regular part of my life in order to continue where I wanted to be.
Taking just one day off from screens really did make a difference in my life. That week I accomplished what might usually take me a month, and I felt good about myself for a change. And I wasn’t stressed…at least not as much as I usually was.
So it’s been a year, how have things changed? Well, I made some changes for good. I still don’t have any games on my phone - that helped a lot. I also turned off all notifications on my phone except text messages, and I don’t get many of those. I’ve fallen back into some of my old ways with Netflix though. I watch at least one to four hours almost every night after everyone has gone to bed.
So to remind myself of what life without screens is like, I’ll be going screen-free again this year, with my family, of course, sometime during National Screen Free Week, May 1-7. Will I go the whole week without screens? Doubtful. But I know that even experiencing just one day without screens can make a huge difference in my life.
Have you ever gone screen-free for a period of time? Would you consider it?
A version of this post originally ran on Can I Get Another Bottle of Whine? You can connect with Kate on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.