I’ve recently started taking more time away from screens. It all started when I watched this video and took some time afterward to let its message sink in. While my memory is still good, it isn’t what it once was, and the same goes for my ability to focus. I figured that if excessive screen use caused them both to decline, then less screen time would improve them. Here’s what I’ve noticed so far.
It’s only been about a week since I started consciously using my screened devices less. As with almost all other changes I make in life, I’m starting slowly and gradually increasing my efforts over time. Still, despite the small, recent changes, I’m already seeing progress. The biggest changes I’ve seen are that my focus is improving and I’m becoming less absentminded. I also feel more relaxed, find it easier to be present, have more patience, am in much less of a daze when going through life, and have more time to do things I want to do. I’m glad to have seen such swift early progress.
I still often use screens every day. However, at this point I find myself using them more intentionally rather than merely habitually. I’m still using them habitually to a certain extent as habits often take a long time to break, especially habits that have been around for a decade or longer. With time, I believe my use of screens will become even more limited and intentional.
Even spending a little less time seeing (and sometimes intentionally seeking out) things on screens that upset me and which I can’t change is already improving my mental/emotional health. Humans in general tend to believe that the more they focus on something, the bigger an issue it is. Thus, constantly seeing negativity, which is a huge amount of what is shown on screens of all types, tends to make one see it everywhere, even where it doesn’t exist. That also tends to make one miss the positive in the world, even if one is surrounded by it. Stepping back from that has done wonders for my wellbeing and allows me to see more of the positive things in the world and even add to them.
I started using screens a lot more after my dog Sawyer died for distractions, looking at cute animal pictures and videos, seeking things to help me heal, and finding ways to kill time when I had more than I knew what to do with. Since I’ve healed so much in the nearly three years since Sawyer’s death, the desire for escapism is much smaller than it was when the pain was overwhelming. Still, it was only recently that I started actually focusing less on screens. Similarly to how someone who was shackled and weighed down for a long time might remain unnaturally postured long after being freed, so too has it taken some time for me to choose to use screens much less even though I had the option to do so much earlier.
So far, I’m enjoying the world outside of screens. The urge to be constantly online, have some compulsory background noise, immediate remedy for boredom, or otherwise use an electronic device is diminishing. I have no idea how much it will diminish. When I stopped watching TV over a decade ago during a three-week experiment, it was surprisingly easy to do. I started by ceasing to watch modern sitcoms and focused instead on older sitcoms and other kinds of shows. That was all I set out to do. Shortly after that, though, my interest in TV diminished to the point that even after the three weeks ended, I stayed away from TV. Since then, I’ve only occasionally watched a show on normal TV or streaming services. That’s a huge change after watching hours of TV nearly every day of my life from the time I was a little kid until after my high school graduation. I look forward to seeing where this journey will take me, and I think it will be more successful than the previous attempt.