Summer is the perfect time for families to unplug, get off their screens and spend time with one another. But when you hear the phrase “screen-free summer,” realistically, what comes to mind? Does the idea of truly unplugging sound fun, impossible, relaxing, daunting? Perhaps all of these?
Summer is the perfect time for families to unplug, get off their screens and spend time with one another. But when you hear the phrase “screen-free summer,” realistically, what comes to mind? Does the idea of truly unplugging sound fun, impossible, relaxing, daunting? Perhaps all of these?
Several years ago, when my kids were young, we turned off the T.V. at the beginning of summer and kept it off for the entire months of June, July, and August. This was before social media and smartphones, when T.V. was the center of our kids’ lives.
I’ll be honest, the first two weeks of summer were miserable. We were so used to noise and distraction, we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. But eventually, our kids got used to it. They began inviting friends over, we spent more time together as a family, and by the time September rolled around, they didn’t even want to turn the T.V. back on!
Now, you may be thinking getting your kids away from their phones and iPads for an entire summer would be much harder than this, but don’t give up on the idea just yet. You can successfully have a screen-free (or, mostly screen-free summer) if you understand the why and the how.
Why consider a screen-free summer? A lot of reasons. I’ve written about the effect of screens on kids as well as the effect of social media on teens. Communicating only via a screen is having a negative effect on our children’s ability to develop crucial skills like empathy. Social media outlets like Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook have had an incredibly detrimental effect on our teen’s mental health. And recent research has found that too much screen time for children ages two to five can have negative effects on their brain development.
You probably know most of these facts and love the idea of your kids having less screen time this summer, but what you’re really wondering is how. How can you realistically implement a screen-free summer?