Screens are everywhere and I don’t know about you but I think we rely on technology far too much. I hands up admit that I am addicted and rely on technology for everyday activities including listening to music, meal planning, social media, watching shows and films – the list goes on.
Too much screen time though can have a negative impact on our health such as causing stress and sleep disturbances. With this said maybe it’s time we all start having a digital detox from time to time.
What is a digital detox?
A digital detox is when you intentionally reduce or even give up completely the amount of time you spend online on your devices. This is usually for a set period of time and is a great way to have some family time.
How to get started
Get everyone involved
This gives a chance for you to come together as a family and discuss your plans and reasonings for a digital detox and what you hope to gain from it. Getting everyone involved means it is more likely to be successful.
Plan activities to do in advance
It’s a good idea to plan ahead any activities to do together. This gives you the chance to fit in some quality time together as a family. For younger children this can be more playing together and being creative, getting outside etc and for teens it can be getting outdoors more or having fun family evenings such as game nights, movie nights, reading nights etc.
Set boundaries for everyone
Once everyone is on board it’s a good idea to set some clear boundaries. A few examples are making meal times screen free and turning devices off one hour before bed. Another idea is having technology free zones within the home. The key thing is to make it realistic for your family.
Be a role model
When your kids see that you are sticking to a digital detox they are more likely to follow suit. Avoid using your phone during meals and other family time.
This is a guest post by Joanna.
Joanna lives in a small town in Lincolnshire with her husband Stuart and 9 year old son after relocating from Bedfordshire in 2019. Her blog Joanna Victoria features mainly parenting and lifestyle posts. You will find a mixture of posts from Mental Health to Books along with adventures as a family of 3 and experiences of having a child with autism.