Monday, December 17, 2018

Unplugging from our screens

I am enjoying the new feature on my phone that tells me how much I've used it that week. I like to see it go down, and it makes me think through my actions over the course of a week when it goes up (did I play too many games? was this the week I started a group text with my team?)

It's a little odd that I am relying on my phone to tell myself that I am using my phone more infrequently, but I'll take it. I would like for my dependency on my devices to go down.

And, at the same time, I would like my son to never develop bad phone habits, especially after seeing that they are changing our children's brains. More specifically: Their memories and other cognitive abilities.

ACK!

That news is hard for my son to understand. He just knows that he wants to play Minecraft or another fun game on his iPad. He has no idea how much time passes as he plays; he only knows it always feels like it is too soon.

So, I do what most parents do: Keep my eyes on the research and encourage my family to do other things. Things that don't involve a screen.

What do you encourage your family to do instead of screen time? Tell me in the comments.

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