The last week of April is a time when 1,000’s of families across the country will be going screen-free. They will turn off their TV’s, computers, tablets, smart phones and unplug.
Copious amounts of screen time eats up valuable time. We need time to be quiet with our own thoughts so that we can think creatively and deeply about things. My kids need it and I do too. It seems like whenever God starts stirring something within, He brings confirmation after confirmation into my life. My friend Amanda has been talking about how to quiet your mind and then contemplates the idea of giving up her i-phone. And then Michelle-Lynn wrote a thought provoking post about taking a sabbath blog break every 7 weeks. I must say that I’m very intrigued by this idea of taking regular, scheduled breaks from blogging, social media and most screen-time. I’m praying about what that should look like for me.
I’ve read much of the research on how important it is to limit screen time for my children. It’s taken a lot of discipline, but we do a good job at that. Sometimes I struggle with setting boundaries for myself and yet I need to unplug and step away from screens almost as much as they do.
So we are doing it. April 29th officially kicks off Screen-Free week. I’m modifying it to start Sunday, the 28th for our family. We’ll unplug from our screens – all of them.
And what will we do instead?
We’ll play more games together…
We’ll read more together…
I’ll read more in the evenings…
I’ll sleep more…
I’ll embrace quiet
We’ll delight in relationship with each other and with the God who made us.
If you want to unplug for a couple of days or even for the entire week, Michelle over at The Holistic Homeschooler is going to start a 10 Days of Screen-Free activities series next week. You can check out the Screen-Free Week Facebook page for inspiration as well.
Speaking of a 10 day series, I have one starting on Monday too! 10 Days of Boosting Brain Power. How the brain develops and grows during the learning process is a favorite subject of mine! I’m getting excited to share with you all how the brain works and what things we can do in everyday life to help our children harness that brain power God gave them! And then after that 2 week series, I’m unplugging and putting all of the advice I’ll be giving you into practice!
I love all of this conversation that is going on! It is a valuable pursuit and I am pondering it all myself. The timing for this year won’t work for me- our baby is due on May 8th and all of our family is far away. I don’t think they will forgive me if I am not sharing pictures! 🙂 But I look forward to taking a break with my newborn.
I look forward to hearing what you gain and learn from this experience!!!
What??? Somehow I missed that you were pregnant! Congrats on your soon to be arriving to the outside world little blessing!
I’m with you. We’ll both be unplugged. I did this last year. I’d spoken with the wonderful people at the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood prior to the event to ask about work. They told me that ‘all of us’ use computers at work and school and that is unavoidable. But I did manage to stay away 99.99999% of the time. (I jumped online for homeschool printables a couple of times).
It’s always nice to know someone else out there is doing it too! I’ll check in on eml for urgent things once or twice. We have volunteer duties that are BUSY this time of year! Other than that, I’m so looking forward to the time unplugged.
Great thoughts, Heather. I am very conscious of limiting my children’s screen time, but often don’t think to limit my own because it’s “work” (whether planning for homeschooling or blogging). I’m thinking maybe one Sabbath day each week unplugged for me, tuned into my family and good books and nature and handicrafts and just rest.
Don’t forget — play in Gulf & in sand. I want to chase waves with Greta & build castles with the boys.