Are your kids always on their devices, staring at tiny screens and ignoring everything and everyone around them? Well, there might be a problem brewing, as one mom realized.
Besides being a big strain on the eyes, too much screen time for children can contribute to behavioral problems and other issues, such as loss of social skills.
Mom and blogger Molly DeFrank knew about these risks, but she was also concerned about her kids’ overall lack of engagement with life around them. She realized it was high time for some screen detox. She wrote on her blog:
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.
Molly posted the results of their family digital detoxing on her Facebook page. “We did not stage this photo,” she captioned the image of her family reading together.
Before going on complete detox, the kids were allowed one hour per day on their devices. That’s not to bad – still, it was enough to bring on negative consequences.
The screens apparently muted their creativity, caused grumpiness, fighting and whining.
I was not into it.
So we pulled the plug, literally.
After a short protest, DeFrank was surprised to see what happened next.
Seriously, it was like I had my kids back.
I watched my kids go from screen-dependent to cooperatively playing, creating and even making their own ‘school.’
I couldn’t believe how easy it was.
The digital detox was originally meant to last 30 days only. But, by now, books, art and playing outside were the kids’ preferred entertainment. The screenless regimen has completely changed the entire family.
Molly hopes that by sharing their success with her family’s screen detox, she can inspire others to make the decision to dump their devices.
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