We can't escape from screens. Laptops, smartphones, TVs in restaurants and grocery stores — when's the last time you were in a room without some kind of screen? We use them at work, for school, to plan brunch dates and organize our schedules and buy Christmas presents. They're the tools that we can't live without, the technology that has changed the way we communicate and learn and are entertained.
And we spend way too much time staring at their bright, flat surfaces.
Spending hours on our tablets and laptops and iPhones isn't healthy — physically, mentally or spiritually. Yet it's so hard to take a step away from the screen when so much of our lives revolve around its pixels and pictures.
Because I believe that we should be aware of how we spend time, because I believe that screens steal creativity and focus, here are a few tips on how to intentionally remove yourself from your laptop or phone. It's not easy, but if you try this test of attention, I hope you'll find, as I have, a renewed sense of wonder, concentration and creativity.
1. Purposefully leave your laptop at home.
Sometimes if I'm going to a coffee shop to study or write, I'll intentionally pack all of my school supplies except my laptop. Of course, I'll often have to use my laptop to type a paper or research articles, but I try as much as possible to write by hand and read out of a physical book instead of staring at a screen. Consider how you can get work done without a computer, and if there's a way, leave the laptop behind. You can't be tempted by it if it's not physically with you.
2. Get outside. Just go.
I could write an entire article on this topic, but I firmly believe 1) that fresh air and open sky are the best medicine and 2) that our bodies are meant to be moved. How does this apply to computer screens? Well, it's hard to use a laptop when you're outside for one, and nature will renew your physical and spiritual senses that technology has numbed. So go on a walk. Run to the grocery store. Take a hike. Set aside time to explore the three-dimensional reality instead of confining yourself to a two-dimensional one.
3. Put your phone in a different room or where you can't easily reach it.
You're eating dinner or hanging out with friends or putting together a presentation for work or class, and your phone is in your hand or pocket or on the table next to you. How many times do you check your phone or remember an email that you need to write or type a quick text that you forgot to send earlier? I do so more frequently than I'd like to admit. I've even noticed that I'll look at my phone when my friend is talking to me. What's the point of spending time with people if you can't be fully present with them? How sad that we probably stare at our screens more often than we look into another person's eyes! Again, though, the habit and temptation can easily be broken just by physically removing yourself from your phone.
Let's try to fill our days with memories of physical people and places and experiences. Let's reclaim a life apart from the screen.
