Screen Free Challenge

Are you up for a challenge?

Join thousands of other families who want to reconnect by going screen free for the week of May 5 – 11, 2014.

What does screen free mean? To put it simply: do not use anything with a screen unless it is directly related to work or school. Televisions, computers, smart phones and other screens are all a part of our world, but they can overtake our lives. By consciously avoiding non-essential screen time, we can reconnect with our family and friends and even ourselves.

Does going screen free for a week sound impossible?

For many people screens are an essential part of our lives. We use online calendars so we can remember our daily schedule and share it with family. We use online resources to make purchases, or research a topic. Computers help us conduct business and more. Texting allows quick communication. Less essentially we use screens to keep up with friends or to share what we’re up to. We play games. We watch movies and television shows. We use screens as a cheap babysitter. It is a huge recreational pastime. It’s easy and inexpensive.

But there are many costs.

• Do your kids complain that you’re always on your phone or computer? Maybe they don’t verbalize it but they might show it with disruptive behaviors. And remember you’re their role model. They will do as you do. But they’d rather spend time with you. Even the teens who deny it. 
• Do your children throw a fit when you tell them to turn the screen off? This can be a sign of addiction, or at least poor self-control. Aggressive tendencies are often exacerbated by screen time.
• Children lose time outdoors and in other active and creative play because they’d prefer to watch television or play a video game. Screen time is directly correlated with obesity, behavior issues, and sleep problems. Active play and social interactions can help with each of these problems.
• Infants and children learn best through human interactions and exploration, yet a screen sometimes mesmerizes them for hours at a time. Some of us feel comforted that our kids are learning by playing some of these games or watching certain “educational” programs, but this is often not the case. Studies do not show beneficial learning, especially in young children, with screen interactions. In many cases time spent on these games and programs is detrimental to their development.
• The typical school aged child has more screen time than ANY other activity except sleep!

Just think of all the free time you will make by turning off the screens. Have every member of your family make the commitment and help each other find new ways to connect.

Because most of spend over 2 hours a day with recreational screen time, we can capture that time to play a game with our kids, take a walk, read a book, write poetry, do a craft project, clean out the garage, garden… the list goes on. Let your kids do things and experience life instead of letting them watch or play with something someone else created for them. And it’s okay to just spend time together talking. Sometimes it’s those simple times that become our most special memories.

Unplug. Start with just one week. See where it takes you!

101 Screen Free Activities

Related posts:

Screen Free Week April 29-May 5, 2013

Screen time: Do you have a love - hate relationship with it?

Quest for Health: Why Screen Free?

Quest for Health: Screen Free Week Reflections

Resources and More From Around the Web:

Screen Free Week is Just around the Corner!

Following FTC Complaint, Baby App Developer Stops Making Educational Claims

These Apps Will Not Educate Your Baby

ScreenFreeWeek.org

Screen time: Do you have a love - hate relationship with it?

Screen time. Parents often have a love - hate relationship with it. We've all heard the warnings that it is bad for our kids, but we've experienced the benefits of it keeping our kids occupied while we get things done. And some programs and games have an educational component -- do we group those in the same category as purely entertaining ones?

Most parents by now have heard the recommendations that kids under 2 years should have no screen time. At all. And older kids should have no more than 10 hours / week total.

Most parents are also fully aware that their kids exceed those guidelines. Some by a little. Others by a  lot. There are all kinds of reasons parents have for allowing this. Some are good reasons, others are not.

To be honest, there is still a lot we don't know about screen time. Research continues. When I was a child, television and movies were just passive watching. Thankfully there wasn't much offered, and with a limited number of channels, we usually stuck to watching tv only on Saturday mornings. Other times we played outside. Shows were not as action packed and overstimulating as those of today. Compare Mr. Rogers to pretty much any show designed for kids today with quick scene changes, music in the background and motion everywhere. Now there are interactive games, many of which are educational, or at least they seem to be teaching letters, counting, or other skills. There's even Wii and Kinect that use whole body movements to get kids off the couch. One can get a good workout with some of the games, but Wii bowling is nothing compared to real bowling.

So how do you count educational and active game time? Should it be included in that 10 hours/ week, or should you allow extra time for it? Are e-readers a form of screen? They often allow interaction like a computer and many can show videos and offer games.

Short answer about counting total screen time: We don't know.  Experts can give thoughtful opinions, but really at this point it's all educated guesses.

Some studies show that kids learn better when things are presented on a computer or video format. Maybe it keeps their attention better than a paper workbook. I love the ability to hold my finger on a word in an electronic e-reader and have the pronunciation and definition pop up. How many times as a young reader did I simply skip over words I didn't know? My daughter likes to increase the font size so only a sentence or two are on the screen. She feels like she reads faster because she "turns the page" more often. Does this build her confidence reading? Does it actually slow her down? I don't know. But she's happier to read and it seems to work for her. (This does drive me nuts if I pick up the Kindle after she's changed the settings... but I can change it back to my preferences easily.) Are kids losing the ability to find things in alphabetical order, such as using an encyclopedia to look something up, since they just hit "search" and find the answers? Does it matter?

Parents must really pay attention to what kids are watching and playing as well as how much time they are spending on a screen. For every minute they are on a screen they aren't interacting with people to work on social skills, they aren't outside playing games and getting exercise. If the games they are playing help develop thinking skills, strategy, math, reading, and more, then some screen time every day can benefit. If the content has violence or other age inappropriate material, it can be very detrimental. If they are online playing against other people, dangers multiply. While I can see kids who hate to read actually not notice how much they must read to play a game on a computer or tablet, are there better ways to get them pumped into reading a book?

There's a time and place for everything. The dinner table and bedroom are never a good place for online/screen time. Watch and play with your kids. They will love the time with you and you can better supervise what they're exposure is and modify it as needed.

More information:
Media Resolutions Every Family Should Make in 2014 has some tips to help monitor and limit screen time.
For information on internet safety, check out YourSphere for Parents.
American Academy of Pediatrics Media page.

Screen Free Week April 29-May 5, 2013

For several years now I've been a supporter of Screen Free Week, a time to turn off all screens (television, computers, video games, social media, smart phones) unnecessary for school or work.

As you know, I am a Facebook junkie. I post often and follow many. How can I support Screen Free Week?

Because it is a good reminder. I don't think we should never use screens, but we should learn to limit. Sometimes the best way to cut back is to go cold turkey.

Screens (television, smart phones, computers, movie screens) dominate our lives. I recently saw this picture show up on PreventDisease.com's Facebook page:

I wish I thought it was an exaggeration, but it seems so true.

I have seen a group of teens all dolled up for prom sitting across each other at a restaurant table, all texting instead of talking.

I often see preschool aged kids watch another kid play a handheld video game. I've tried watching someone else play, and I can't even see the screen, so I have no idea why they like to watch each other so much. It is like a drug... they have to watch.

I ask kids what their favorite activities are at their well visits, and a large percentage of the time "play video games" is the top answer. 

Screen Free Week gives us time to reconnect. Turn off all screens not required for work or school. Limit the off-hours work-related screen time. Stop answering texts and emails during family time. Turn it off!

Not sure what to do with all your free time? Check out this list of 101 Screen Free Activities.

Want your kids to get on board? Talk to them about the fun things you can do with them. Have them sign a Pledge Card. Share the cards with their friends or teacher.

Do I realize how hard this is? Yes. See my Screen Free Week Reflections blog for some of the issues I encountered while going screen free in 2011. Despite the logistics of going Screen Free, it is overall a great experience!

Why is this needed?

• Screen time is associated with obesity, loss of sleep, aggression, and attention problems.
• Children are exposed to marketing, negative events, and age-inappropriate themes.
• Preschoolers spend an average of 32 hours a week on a screen. That's almost a full time job! Where's the free play time?
• School aged children average 7.5 hours of screen time a day-- that's over 50 hours a week!
• Screen time cuts into sleep time for many kids and adults. Sleep is one of my big three needs: proper nutrition, daily exercise, and adequate sleep. These should be among the top priorities of every day.
• For more facts and research on screen time, see this pdf from Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

I challenge you and your family to a Screen Free Week April 29th - May 5th.

Reflect on the changes you made at the end of the week. What new habits can you initiate long term? Hopefully you can keep family time more protected from the screen interruptions. Instead of watching tv with your kids, play a game. Resist answering that text during your child's replay of his school day. Stay off the computer until the kids go to bed. Turn the tv off during meals and keep the television set to age appropriate programming if your kids are in the area. (For ideas on age appropriate television, movies, books and games, check out CommonSenseMedia.)

In the long run the real answer is balance, not complete avoidance. Screen time offers a lot of benefit: relaxation, entertainment, knowledge sharing. But it becomes a problem when it overshadows other things. Small doses are acceptable. Too much of anything isn't good. Find the balance!

Share what changes you made during your week and which ones you think your family can do long term. I'd love to hear from you!


Previous Screen Free blogs:
Why Screen Free
Screen Free Week Reflections

Spring Forward... Lose sleep...

As we move our clocks forward to increase the number of daylight hours, we all lose one hour of sleep.  In the whole scheme of things, this isn't much. Most people (kids and adults) lose needed sleep every night.  Only 8% of teens get the recommended amount of sleep.  Eight percent!  No wonder they have increasing rates of so many problems.

Last night I watched "Race to Nowhere" a documentary of the pressures placed on our kids today.  Kids feel pressure to do well in school (many while taking an overload of AP classes), leading to many hours of homework each night.  They participate in sports, which takes up valuable time after school away from homework, but does help them exercise and do something they enjoy (until they burn out and don't like it anymore). They feel the need to do community service and join clubs to build their portfolio to get into a great college.

While I think the film was developed with an agenda and not every kid is suffering from overload, I certainly see enough teens (and preteens) who seem to suffer from sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, stress, and more.  Are these kids simply not using time efficiently?  Even the documentary showed one of the troubled teens doing homework with her cell phone right there and texting interrupting her thought.

Maybe a quick break after school to play outside for 30 minutes will help release energy and allow the brain focus to study.  Then turn off the tv and put the phone in another room and get to work.  My question: Are these kids spending 6 hours doing 1 hour worth of work?  

Interesting point made in the film though: Studies show that as the amount of homework assigned decreases, test scores increase.

Are we setting our kids up for failure from the beginning? Research shows that kids under 3 years who watch tv have higher incidences of ADHD and aggression along with lower cognitive development.  Kids with ADHD take longer to do tasks because they do not focus and concentrate until the task is complete.  They often need to re-read or re-do work because they miss concepts.  They can suffer from poor self esteem and increased rates of depression because they feel like failures.  In the short video below Dr. Dimitri Christakis explains how researchers are learning about the influences of stimulations (too little and too much) on learning and development.  Take 16 minutes to watch it!

Past growth and development cannot be changed, but we can improve current growth and development.  Maximizing nutrition, healthy exercise, and sleep can help the body and brain be its best.

Kids and teens are staying up too late (sometimes all night) to finish homework.  They are tired during class so take caffeine or other stimulants (such as those used to treat ADHD without a prescription) to stay awake.  They are too tired to focus in class, so they perform below their knowledge on tests.  Between 7-12 years old, kids need 10-11 hours of sleep every night.  Teens need 8-9 hours, sometimes more during rapid growth spurts.

Kids who once enjoyed a favorite sport feel the pressure from coach to train more, but the demands of school put the kids in a quandry: they need to make grades to play, but they don't have time after practice to do the homework.  Often practice and game times are late in the evening, making it hard for kids to fall to sleep at a normal bedtime, since the body needs about 2 hours after exercise to fall to sleep.  I have blogged on this before here.

I see many kids and teens who have chronic headaches or other symptoms that are likely due to sleep deprivation, but they insist it is something else and they want the million dollar workup to find a cause and expensive medications to treat the symptoms.  Once symptoms have started, they might need more treatments, but beginning with healthy nutrition, exercise, and sleep might prevent many of these problems!

The fear of failure and pressure to succeed is leading to kids trying anything to succeed, not just staying up late and drinking too much caffeine.  Cheating in schools, such as copying homework, plagiarizing, or cheating on a test is becoming commonplace. The large majority of high school students admit to cheating.  What does this mean for our future society if kids learn to cheat the system to succeed?

Kids who are chronically sleep deprived are at risk of physically hurting themselves due to slowed reaction times, concentration and focus failures, and difficulty processing information (much like being under the influence of drugs or alcohol).  They are more likely to be injured while playing their sport. Drivers are more likely to be in a car accident.  Drivers 16-24 years of age are the most likely to report falling to sleep at the wheel in the past year according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.  Also in this study, people who sleep 6-7 hours a night are twice as likely to be in an accident as those sleeping 8 hours or more.  People sleeping less than 5 hours increase their risk 4-5 times!

How can we all wake up rested and still get everything done each day?  What can we cut back on with our families?  There are initiatives to get schools to enforce less homework and to start later, but until then, what can YOU do to help your kids get the sleep they need?

Screen Free Week Reflections

I have been a fan of Screen Free Week since I heard about it.  Even before I heard of the official week, it was a popular negative consequence in our home.  

I used to enforce unofficial screen free weeks at our house regularly when I saw my kid's behaviors turn toward selfishness, fighting, and whininess.  Turning off the tv and video games help.  Maybe it's because the screen activities wind up their brains.  Maybe it's because it is "down" time and they need active time.  Maybe because I was guilty of using the tv as a babysitter so I could get my own things done, yet the kids needed time with me.  There are many more maybes, but all I know is that turning off the tv and video games seems to always help.  I get a bunch of complaints at the beginning of the week, but by the end of the week the kids are in a new habit of finding things to do without electronics.  It's fun. We all get along better.

This Screen Free Week I realized that it is harder than ever though.  Not for the kids, but for me.  I can never get off computers completely.  We use electronic records at my office.  I use the internet to search for information related to my job.  Those are allowable uses, since electronics for work and school are exceptions to turning off the screen.  Computers are simply a part of our life.

We are all relatively new to all the opportunities for wasting time on tv (remember when there were just a couple channels?) and internet offerings.  We are plugged in from our computers and our Smart Phones.  We get a lot of work done and learn information on these Screens.  When can we unplug? How do we learn to manage our time?

This week I was going to at least stay off Facebook, since that is mostly fun stuff that I share with patient families. Work related, yes.  Necessary, no.  I feel that by posting to Facebook it encourages others to look at Facebook.  Facebook is a huge time waster for many. (And yes, this is from someone who is totally addicted to facebook... I spend quite a bit of time searching around on it to scope great things to share!) A great reason to turn off the screen for a week!  

But then I need to reevaluate the "Necessary, no."  What is necessary?  I still had to look at Facebook to be sure the office page was not being abused with posts that were inappropriate.  Most things I post are not timely.  There are some recalls that are important, but not really imperative to share NOW.

But there were several things that happened in this one week that Social Media could really benefit.   Where do you draw the line of staying off Social Media and when does it become "work" so it is excluded?

We did post two things to our wall that did seem to meet the criteria of important and timely.  One was a request from the Health Department to spread the word about an outbreak.  Why is this important?  Because 8 people in Kansas have been sick and 2 have died.  Warn people: good.  But then to see it, people are checking their Facebook posts: bad.  Such a slippery slope!

The second post was about our own office's access.  We were not warned that our parking lot was to be resurfaced.  Staff arrived to work and found the whole thing blocked with no access to our main door (until we convinced them it was unacceptable during office hours).  Yikes!  How to spread the word quickly?  Yes, we can call the patients with appointments and tell them where to park, but what about walk ins?  Facebook is fast.  It can be helpful!  But we told people to stay away for the week.  Sigh.  Just can't win!

A third post that didn't end up getting posted because it is a bit hazier in importance and timeliness.  We have promised that when we open flu clinic appointments we will share on our website and Facebook page.  Of course we were able to secure a couple dates during this Free Week.  We posted to the website, since people always use that for health matters, not "fun".  We sent out an email to registered website users.  But we didn't post immediately to Facebook, again to encourage people to stay off Social Media for the week.  But Facebook isn't purely Social.  It is used to share information in a way that wasn't possible years ago.  (No worries for those of you who haven't signed up yet... there will be plenty of time to sign up!) 

Other posts that aren't timely were easy.  Save for later.  I am using a scheduling system that schedules posts, so I don't have to post daily.  That is helping manage my time on Facebook.  I still have to look daily to check on posts, but it does help with time management.


I think that is where the secret lies.
We all need to learn time management with the Screens.  What is important? What are time wasters?  Time wasters aren't always bad.  It can be great to vege in front of the tv after a long day and just relax without any bothers.  It is fun to catch up on what friends are up to on Social Media.  It can save time if you have exciting news and post once for all your friends and family to see (less personal than a phone call or visit, but faster!)


We need balance.
We need to make time for family, faith, exercise, healthy family meals, and sleep.  Cutting out those important things in life to waste more time in front of the screen simply is dangerous.