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 for under 2 years might be okay? What!!!???

I was initially confused by recent headlines such as this reporting that Dr. Dimitri Christakis now says some interactive time on tablets or computers might be okay at young ages. He is one of the authors of the 2011 American Academy of Pediatrics Guidelines that recommended no screen time under 2 years of age, so this seemed at first contradictory. He has previously been on record affirming that television for children under 3 years is very detrimental for their attention span, stating that it permanently damaged their brains. So naturally my first impression was the news must have the angle wrong.

photo source: Shutterstock

Then I was reminded that when those guidelines were written, the scope of screen time availability was much different. The guidelines relied on research done well before iPads or other tablets were readily available. It was a time of flip phones, not smart phones. We have little information on what interactive screen time does for development since it is such a new concept.

Toddlers in my office are often on their parent's smart phone or other device. They scroll through family pictures. They try to match puzzle pieces. They find the letter or count the objects. They watch a movie. Each of these is very different in what the child is exposed to and what they can potentially gain. There are lists of educational games for 2-4 year olds to teach various skills. I suspect if the under 2 year crowd playing e-games is sanctioned officially by the AAP, lists for that age group will develop too.

We really are in infancy stages of learning what kids of all ages can learn from these devices or all the negatives that could be attributed to them. Of course the types of interactions make a big difference in addition to the total amount of time spent on these activities. As Dr. Christakis explains in this TED talk, some screen time is too action packed and fast moving for healthy brain development, encouraging short attention spans and hyperactivity. Children under 3 years have an especially rapidly developing brain, so they are more sensitive to the interactions they have in real life or on a screen. (He starts talking about television at about 5 minutes into the video but I encourage watching all of it, it is that good.) It is still unclear if television actually causes increased risk of ADHD or if children with ADHD are simply more drawn to action-packed television. Interestingly, educational television programs aren't linked to increased risk of ADHD but action packed and violent shows are. In short, any experience we have during our developmental years changes us, we just don't know exactly how influential television and video games are.

Toddlers who interact with a screen are learning hand-eye coordination and cause and effect. Yes, that can be learned the old fashioned way with exploring their world around them, and I encourage that most of it should be learned from playing with real objects. They need human interaction to learn social skills. Screen time can over-stimulate them if the action is too fast-paced, too loud, done in excess, or done at the wrong time (such as bedtime). Most of us know how addictive screen time can be. We can lose track of time as adults and so can toddlers and kids. If kids get frustrated playing (or refuse to turn it off when asked) they might be getting inappropriate or too much screen time. If this happens, stop all screen time for awhile and slowly re-introduce it after screening the games/ shows to evaluate if they are appropriate for your child's stage of development. Just because an older sibling or friend enjoys a show or game doesn't mean your child is developmentally ready for it.

For most families children using screen time is a given, it's not something parents avoid until at least 2 years of age. Regardless of recommendations to have no screen time under 2 years and only up to 10 hours per week for older children, most kids have much more screen time than that. Parents know that screen time is a great behavior motivator. Parents use screen time as a token to get chores done or to behave well. It can afford a parent time to get a few things done while kids are not running around the house. It is an easy way to keep kids occupied when they must sit quietly for a long period.

We still should use screen time wisely and responsibly. It should be age appropriate. Especially for younger children, it should have a learning goal and should not be too fast paced. A great video from CommonSenseMedia.org, Not All Screens Are Created Equal, discusses quality as well as quantity of screen time. I regularly use that site to pre-screen media my children want to watch or play to be sure it is appropriate for my child. I encourage you to do the same.

Playing learning games on a computer or tablet has the potential to be beneficial for children, as long as it is balanced with active play to allow for plenty of exercise. Remember as parents we must put down our devices too! Kids need our attention. If we are hiding behind our smart phone or tablet, we are not focusing on them like we need to. Set aside time just for family and turn off all the electronics. Model the behaviors you want your kids to do. Help toddlers and kids use screen time wisely and appropriately.

Why Screen Free?

Every April and September there is a nationwide Screen-free Week to unplug from the screens and plug back in to our families.  Why do I support this wholeheartedly? Because I see the benefit from getting away from it all every once in awhile.  We live in a media-rich society, so I know that it is impossible to completely turn everything off... most of us couldn't do our jobs without a computer.  But I challenge you to substitute recreational screen time with other activites for just one week and see what happens. 

Some facts and statistics:

• Screen Time = television, video games, computer time, handheld games, social media, movies -- anything with a screen.
• The typical school aged child has 7.5 hours of screen time daily. That's more time than ANY other activity except sleep!
• The typical preschool child watches over 4.5 hours of screen time daily.
• Screen time is linked to aggression, ADHD, and obesity among other things.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends NO screen time under 2 years of age and no more than 10 hours per week for older children.
• The AAP recommends no televisions, computers, or other electronic media in children's bedrooms.
• An average preschool child sees nearly 25,000 commercials.
• Screen time inhibits sleep.   
• More from the links below!

Since my family has been doing this I find an interesting pattern: 

• my kids initially grumble (ok, it is a stronger disagreement, but...) 
• they quickly find other things to keep busy
• they play better together with less fighting
• they argue less with me when asked to do something
• we overall enjoy one another more
• at the end of the week they choose to do things without the tv or computers
• they slowly start to watch / do more on the screens
• they are once again addicted to the screen and I have to pull them away.

What can you do besides watch tv or play on the computer or game system?

• Go for a walk.
• Ride a bike.
• Play ball.
• Have a picnic.
• Play a board game.
• Read a book.
• Make up a play.  Be creative!
• Dance.
• Cook dinner together as a family.
• Talk to a friend or family member. Talk, not text!
• Go to the park or zoo.
• Check out the new aquarium.

It is an overall good experience. Read my post-Screen-Free Week Reflections from the last screen-free week here.

I will try not to be on line during the Screen Free Week, April 30-May 6th. (Hard work, I know... scanning the internet is my biggest pastime/hobby ~ AKA timewaster.)  

Join me off line and plug in to your families!  Have a fun week and I'll see you back on Facebook and Twitter May 7th!  

For more information:

Fact Sheets from Commercial Free Childhood

Common Sense Media 

Dr. Christakis on Media and Children

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.