Screen-Free Sunday

When my kids were little, I handed out screen time like it was $1,000 a minute.  The first I remember of Hailey and Claire watching anything on a screen was when they were three.  I was pregnant with Brennan, and exhausted, so  I allowed myself a half-hour taped episode of Mr. Rogers each day, so I could take a nap.

I totally believe in using tv as a babysitter.  What else is it good for?  The only reason I can see to plug my kids into the idiot box is so that I can get some much-needed down time.  I've always used it very sparingly.  In fact, when the girls were about seven and Brennan was three, they were watching a Christmas special.  Suddenly Karl and I heard them yelling, "Daddy, Daddy!  It's broken!  Where's our show?"  It was a commercial break, and they'd never seen one before.

We spent a lot of evenings reading, either silently, to each his own, or enjoying a readaloud.  We have countless shared jokes and characters we know as friends.  We've laughed and cried and gasped together.  In fact, it's well-known around here never to sit next to Claire during the climax of a book.  She climbs the back of the couch and flings her arms around.

As the kids have gotten older though, we've necessarily had to allow more screen time in their lives.   After we moved to the rainy Northwest, I got Netflix so we could watch school-related videos at lunchtime.  Then when the girls were in 8th grade, they took an online writing class.  Their computer skills developed rapidly, and soon followed email, Facebook, and YouTube videos.

Now Brennan has to constantly have a song playing, usually some Weird Al parody that the rest of us can't stand.  Hailey holes up in her room looking at pictures of historical clothing, and Claire develops a peculiar flushed look from staring at YouTube videos for too long.  

So I'm taking back a little corner of our world.  I've declared Screen-Free Sunday for the past 3 Sundays - no computers, no dvds, no ipod.  Unplugging is more difficult than I thought it would be, but oh so rewarding.  The first Sunday I woke up, made tea, and plopped down in a kitchen chair to catch up on some reading.  Pretty soon, I started hoping for the kids to get up so I could play with them.  I haven't felt that way since they were little! It wasn't long, however, before I wanted to look something up on the internet.  Just a tiny piece of information, and I've gotten so used to instant gratification of my curiosity.  But no big deal, I marked it down to look up later.  In the evening, we all read together.  It felt like such a relaxing day, the way things used to be around here.

The second week was even better, because we all were more prepared for the absence of our beloved screens.

In week three, trouble struck.  We had made plans with Archie to go see the movie 12 Years a Slave in Civil War dress, on um, a screen.  A big screen.  And after that it just seemed silly to restrict screens, so when we got home we all went straight to check email.  Total fail.

I vow to do better tomorrow.  Constant access to information is changing our relationships, changing our lives.  I don't want to be instantly available to anyone and everyone.  I don't need to know the latest news every hour.  I want to be fully engaged with the people I have around me, not divide my attention.  I want to read books and run races and sew quilts and play games, not search YouTube or kill animated zombies.

The trouble is, I do want to kill animated zombies.  And I want to see the latest song on YouTube.  And I'm just dying to know where my Facebook friends ate lunch.  The instant access that technology provides us is highly addictive.  I think it's so addictive that you forget how satisfying are the simpler pleasures of the real world, like curling up with a good book.  And that's scary, because time is so precious and it's so easy to while it away doing nothing.

I saw Rufus today, and he pointed out to me the irony of my running home to blog about Screen-Free Sunday.  Yeah, I know.  But tomorrow is Screen-Free Sunday #4, so I have to get it done tonight!  Now quit reading this.  Unplug and go enjoy your real life!