Could you go screen-free for a week?

How much of your day is spent looking at a screen?

Mobile phones, laptop/computers, tablets, TV's & game consoles are all major time occupiers for a lot of us, all of which mean that we're sat engrossed pretty much entirely in a screen - often for way longer than is advised by professionals.

I would say I can easily sit in bed in a morning for a couple of hours, scrolling through social media, checking notifications, responding to friends, playing a few games etc. Then, I might start doing some work, which for me is heavily laptop based. That might occupy me for 4 hours or so before I take a screen break, which means by that time 6 hours of the day (the majority of the time i've been awake) has been spent looking at a screen. Then when i'm procrastinating from work, i'll do some more scrolling - more screen time. In the evenings i'll likely do some more work whilst watching TV at the same time - double screen-time action. In-between all of that, it's pretty much constant scrolling/game playing/working. In total i'd estimate easily over 70% of my day is spent looking at a screen of some kind. When you consider that 2 hours is the recommended limit (not including school or work purposes), that's pretty bad.

So, why am I randomly challenging you to go screen-free? Well, between 02/05 & 08/05 it's actually Screen-Free Week! (formerly known as TV Turnoff Week and Digital Detox Week). Starting all the way back in 1994, Screen-Free Week is an annual event where the entire population is invited to "play, explore, and rediscover the joys of life beyond ad-supported screens." - something I think we're all in need of a little bit.

Read more about it on their website here!

Mental exercises/games you can try

1. Go for a mental walk

Put your imagination to the test! When you close your eyes, can you imagine a particular place? a favourite place maybe? Imagine you're stepping through your front door and going outside. Which way do you walk? What do you see, smell and hear on the journey? Can you imagine the feeling of the ground beneath your feet? This technique is great coupled with deep belly breathing to aid falling to sleep and to generally calm yourself down

2. ABC game

This one is super simple, and most of you will have heard of it or probably even played it before. Choose a category (for example: animals), and then work your way through the alphabet, naming an animal for each letter (for example: A for Antelope, B for Bear, etc).

3. People-watch & create backstories for strangers

If you're lucky like me, you might have a window in your house that looks onto a relatively busy street. This gives you a perfect viewpoint for people-watching. It's one of my all-time favourite activities. Being a lifestyle photographer, I find a lot of inspiration and joy from watching people just living their natural lives. Occasionally I like to make up random stories about what their lives might be like, what they might do for work or for fun in their spare time. Most of the time i'm probably way off, but it's fun to do.

4. Daydream

The potentials here are pretty much limitless. Plus, daydreaming is great for so many different reasons: it lessens stress & anxiety, helps refresh the brain leading to better problem-solving, it engages diverse parts of the brain, expands creativity, and can help you reach goals.

Beginner-friendly things to try/do

1. Walking

Walking is one of the best exercises you can do (in my opinion, anyway). It's great for physical health whilst not being too physically demanding, and it's also great for mental health too. Plus, you'd be surprised at what you can come across while wandering around, even in your local area!

2. Read a book

Personally, I love settling into bed with a good book and a brew. I can lose myself in the pages for hours. The amazing thing about reading, is there really is something out there for everyone, no matter what your reading capabilities or genre tastes are.

3. Declutter/clean

Sometimes we allow our spaces to become super cluttered and disorganised, and it can be very easy to not even realise how untidy things get over time. Every now and then, it's good to have a sort through things and consider donating anything you no longer use or need to a local charity shop, or even selling them on platforms like Vinted & Depop! I know better than anyone that sometimes this can seem too daunting to start, but it's much easier when you're not tempted by a cheeky scroll!

If you're like me and you occasionally (completely accidentally) unlock your phone to habitually scroll when you're actually supposed to be doing something productive, you can download a free app called Forest - there's probably lots of other similar alternatives out there, but this is just the one that I happen to use - that plants a digital tree and it takes a set time (that you choose) to fully grow. If you open your phone and start using other apps within that time, the tree dies. If you do forget and go to open another app though, you'll get an alert saying your tree will die if you don't go back to the forest app. I've found it insanely useful when trying to stay focussed on a task.

4. Try something new

There are so many hobbies out there to choose from, many of which you'd probably enjoy and potentially be really good at, but you'll never know until you try them! I wouldn't recommend trying a billion new things at once, but it's always good to have a go at something new every once in a while! Some of the fun hobbies I've developed over time include: knitting, painting (only by numbers, haha), pretty much anything crafty, keeping plants, writing/journalling, reading & stargazing.

If any of you reading this decide to participate in Screen-Free Week, no matter to what degree, I would absolutely love to hear about what you get up to and how you find it!

Until next time,

Cas x