The Digital Cleanse: Turning off screens and tuning into life!
This year “Spring Cleaning” has taken on a whole new meaning in our household. My husband and myself embarked on a renewed quest to eat clean and pledged to be more physically active as a family. I also began purging all unused and unwanted goods room by room in our household in an effort to simplify our lives. So when I took on organizing Screen-Free week for the school and read through the materials provided by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood I quickly realized that this was one more area that could use a little cleaning up in our household.
Only a year ago I wouldn’t have considered our household to be excessive in terms of the amount of screen time we enjoy. After all we had cancelled cable a few years ago with no regrets and while I indulged in some TV shows via streaming in the evenings our only family viewing was our Friday night pizza and a movie. While I had an iPhone I was lucky enough to have not had children old enough to realize that it could be used for entertainment purposes.
Then it happened. My husband upgraded to the iPhone and then during a visit to family my children saw their cousin playing games on his parents iPhone. I remember the look on my 5 year olds face as he glared across the room and asked if our phones could do this too. Shortly thereafter I got an iPad for work and downloaded a few games and what is my personal digital downfall, Pinterest.
I do not believe “screens” are evil as we value technology for work, education, entertainment, and organization. I do however believe screens are too prevalent, habituating and that excessive screen time is harmful, especially for children.
I am looking forward to assessing the role screens play in our lives as we begin our pledge to participate in Screen-Free Week, April 30th through May 6th. I wish I could say the same for all in our household but at least they are on board. We started preparing today by talking to the children and then making signs together to hang on our TV, Tablet and Computer as reminders to keep them turned off.
In addition, what I hope we all get from screen free week in our household is more connection, with each other, with our community and with nature. I could provide you with a whole list of ideas for this week but I think unstructured time together and sharing with our children what we enjoyed most from our own childhood is time well spent.
So what does “screen-free” mean? No use of television, computers, tablets or phones for entertainment purposes. No pinterest! (gasp) While my husband and I will need to use devices for work we are taking it one step further by challenging ourselves as to whether talking, texting or checking work email at home is really necessary in the evening.
As a school we will be talking about our favorite Screen-free activities and sharing ideas. Staff will also take a break from blogging and using our iPhones as cameras for this week. We have all pledged to participate, won’t you?
