My kids love all of the screens, from Netflix and YouTube to Minecraft and Fortnight. But the screens do not love my kids back. It turns out that screens were doing to my children exactly what the studies claimed they were doing: cultivating distracted, grumpy and argumentative little people. Not what I want for my babies who I love more than life.
I knew screens were having a negative impact on my kids, even though we only allowed an hour a day. One day when I got home after running errands, my kindergartener greeted me at the door with, “Can I play on your phone?” Nope. That was the last straw. My husband and I decided that we needed a course correction, ASAP.
So we told the kids at dinner that screens were no longer an option in our home. After the weeping and gnashing of teeth subsided, guess what? Everyone moved on. What started as a thirty day screen detox has become a lifestyle overhaul in our home of five children under the age of ten. Quitting was shockingly easy, surprisingly sustainable, and my nine year old daughter has told me on several occasions that she’s glad we’ve cut them out.
My daughter reads books faster than I can buy them, my son has taught family art classes (his idea), and apparently the “go play outside” our moms successfully used on us, STILL WORKS! (If the kids aren’t numbed out on screens.)
My kids play together better, are more creative, more obedient, happier and sleep better. To be sure, they are still human beings and can fight with each other like any siblings. But the change in their attitudes overall was instant, noticeable and for the better.
I recently read a book about parenting and technology, and the author said that in his home, they aim to create more than they consume. I loved the principle. We’ve loosely adopted it, and I’m never going back. Technology can of course be useful—in its right place. The key is making technology work for us, rather than the other way around.
In case your little precious people seem like they could benefit, I highly recommend a screen break.
Want to know how we implemented our screen detox? Check out my free guide below!
I *really* want to do this! I’ve been ready for a while. However, I have one concern…:we homeschool and we have a few curriculum choices that are either online or have a screen component (teaching textbooks for math, keyboarding without tears, etc) We have lots of paper and books in our curriculum choices, but we still use a screen for some comments. Is that going to totally derail/undo the idea of going screen free?
We were in the exact same boat when we started! We were homeschooling and used Teaching Textbooks. We still let the kids do their math. 🙂 And you know what was kind of cool about it? Since all other forms of screen usage were gone, they LOOOOVED math even more than usual! I think you tailor it to your family. I bet if you cut screens out completely except for what you use for school, you would see the same results we did. If you do it, come back and let me know how it went!
Thank you so much for your insight! I’ve really wanted to try it, but I didn’t know if having the screen for school would derail us. I think we may give it a go! I’ll keep you posted!
This has been my concern, too! We use Teaching Textbooks for 1 of my kiddos, and my older kiddo is learning to type and is writing papers on the computer. We also have a very visual learner who benefits from documentaries and such, so I have been mulling over screens for mom-sanctioned educational purposes only. Think that would work?
What about minimum understanding ASD 5 years old? Please help us. Thanks
By Reading this I am sure u will be able to grab an idea how to make your kids hate watching TV by them self and let them tell you to take the TV out of the house.
It’s a technique my father had done to us 20 Years ago.
When me and my siblings were small we used to watch TV everyday knowing the timings of the programs, TV Series and cartoons.one after the other continues.
My father used to be upset about this but never said not to watch. He asked whether we don’t have any homework, and we say NO. But to be honest we don’t do homework because of TV.
– One-day suddenly the TV remote was not working and we had to move near to the TV to change channels and to control the volume.
– After a week the volume control was broken and we had to put a stick inside the volume control slider and adjust
(By this time without the remote control and the having problems in the volume control, we were little by little start hating the TV subconsciously)
After another week the volume controller was broken and the volume was set to very high. We tried all possible ways by poking the stick into it and unable to achieve.
We knew father will not agree, but we requested to buy a New TV but he said he has already spent a lot in the current TV and will not be buying a new TV any sooner, till then use this TV.
– When ever we ON the TV the Volume is so high; so we only ON the TV for Most required programs. By this time watching TV series completely dropped and started hating the TV. I even remember pasting a cardboard on the TV speakers to reduce the irritating noise which didn’t work out well.
Along with this transition our father started buying News papers everyday and our interest went a little to that side and got interested in reading.
Years passed without TV and we were able to concentrate more on our studies and was performing well because we got ample time.
Recently during a family gathering this topic came up on “How to help your kids quit screens”, our father opened up his secret ingredient.
When we were small he knew that because of this TV we are not focusing on our studies, not doing the homework, not performing well at school.
So he secretly planned and executed a psychological treatment by following below steps where we ended up hating the TV.
– Break the remote control circuit
– Break the volume controller slider
– Set the volume to Max and break the volume controller circuit
– Sit back and watch us 😉
I would love to do this but I have a couple question? What is your rule when visiting other people’s homes?
How would you go about having to do schoolwork on the computer? (I’m in my bachelors degree program and required to use it quit often)
This is so wonderful! We have always been screen-free in our home (aside from the occasional family movie) and the benefits are immense. Way to go–what a gift to your family! Thanks for sharing so openly
🙂 Katie
I’ve loved reading this article,I really want to quit too.i guess I am hooked on to the phone.please help.my prayer in the morning is oh Lord, please deliver me from the phone today