Screen Free Week was a great success here at our house. Though I, myself, was not totally screen-free, we had a great week spending more family time together and learning that we can do without our screen time.
The Kids–The kid did ask for the television throughout the week but did not put up much fuss when reminded we were screen free for the week. Avarie, who is 7, asked several times if the week was over yet but she did quite well. We even stayed away from our computer learning games every day except one. We did have one day of computer screen time using our Reflex Math and Reading Eggs. Our 2 year old asked for his reading videos a few times but we stayed away from it for him for the week. He did have one session of his computer games with mom, but that is about 10-15 minutes so it wasn’t too intrusive into our schedule.
The Family – The family had some good family time this week during screen free week. Board games, more reading and playing outside, after dinner walks, and more story times were the highlights. We found that we went to bed on time a little better and did not depend on the television for down-time. It was good for my husband and I to spend some time getting some work done and talking. It was nice to sit outside in the peace (and watch that fantastic Super Moon) and unwind together without media in the way. Though my husband and I both had computer screen time due to work and school commitments, we did limit other screen time, even after the kids were in bed, which was good for us.
Me– What I found was that the work was much less stressful and full of distractions. We got places more on time including bedtime, which is a real issue for us. I was much more productive without the distraction of the television, which is rarely on for me but for others and I now realize how distracting that was for me when working. I was thankful to have better behavior, calmer evenings and mornings, and better quality family time spent talking and sharing. I feel that I watch very little television and would love to be able to budget my computer work screen time better to have less of it as well. I hope that we can use this experiment to help us do better over the summer
One Note – I will say that, having a 2 year old that does not like to not have my full attention, there were times when I realized that I would normally be using a learning video to keep his attention while I did something when Avarie for school or some work. I need to find better ways to keep his attention on something else but still allow me to work on my work or with Avarie. But I do think the learning videos are helpful and, if used sparingly, are an ok screen time for the kids.
We plan to have a family discussion about how screen free week went for us and how we would like to set limits on our screen time for the future. This was a excellent way to see where we have come to rely on the television and ways that we can improve in our lives. I found it very interesting to see how much more productive I am without the distraction of the television.
Did you got screen free? What did you learn?
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