One Week to Get My Family Back

BEWARE! We have a serious epidemic on our hands! TA, or Tech Addiction. Research states that 1 in 4 teenagers meet screen-time guidelines, which is recommended to be two hours or less per day (I think this is still way too much time). Whatever happened to playing outside until dark? Sitting and reading a good book? Spending time together as a family? Well, this week, I started a total screen detox with my kids. No phones. No television. No computers. And no gaming devices for one week! The first few days were a little rocky, kind of like a drug or alcohol detox. There was pacing, begging, boredom, resilience, anger, some itching and facial tics, and more than a few outbursts of whimpering and/or some crying. Now, homework is getting done early. We’re having nice family dinners. We’re playing monopoly and hanging out together. We’re having nice conversations and completing books that have been gathering dust on the kids’ shelves and nightstands for months. Imagine that!