Find some no screen time

Find some no screen time

In this day and age it is so easy to waste hours on social media, watching television or browsing online. A 10 minute look online before you get out of bed, another few minutes at breakfast, morning tea, lunch and when you get home from work and then a scroll on the couch with the telly on after dinner means hours can disappear from your day looking at nothing much at all.

Unfortunately this habit is happening without most of us realising we are even doing it. It’s just a habit that in our spare time we go straight to browsing online. So what should we do?

1)   Make times in the day that are screen free. Meals are a great one, as this means you will be talking to your friends, family and colleagues as opposed to switching in and out of conversations between screen reads.

2)   Try not to double screen. This is generally where you’re watching something on the television and doing something on your computer, device or phone at the same time. Doing this means that you’re never really concentrating on the one thing and you’ll likely make mistakes if doing work online, answering a question, paying a bill or you might miss something important if someone is talking to you.

3)   Find a radio station or podcast you love and have it on instead of the television.

4)   If someone is talking to you, make a huge conscious effort to straight away put down your device, give him or her eye contact and more importantly listen to what they’re saying. The habit of not paying attention to someone because you’re reading something on social media or online is now causing a lack of communication in many relationships and is being seen as a contributor to relationship breakdowns.

5)   Try not to over expose kids to technology. From a very young age kids want phones, ipads and remotes. The more time you can spend playing with and talking to babies and kids the better.

If you feel that doing any of these things will cause you stress and anxiety, it might be time to seek some professional help in dealing with reducing your online time.