People these days seem anchored to their devices by their thumbs and tend to become lost when going without them for any length of time. I personally find it sad to see young children with their faces buried in smartphones and tablets on nice days, especially when there’s so many better things to do with their time.

Having recently parted ways with Netflix and stowed my tablet in my backpack in preparation for frenzied note-taking this fall, I find myself using my free time much more healthily (still nothing productive, of course). Afternoons previously filled with lazing about surfing the internet or binge watching "Star Trek: Enterprise" now find me doing things that sometimes even border the realm of exercise.

Why, just today, while desperately procrastinating in search of inspiration for my weekly Odyssey post, I spent over three hours diving into a lake with some friends. I emerged drenched and with mud in my hair, but had much more fun than I would have a home, which is the point of my rambling today. Put down the phone and go do something in the real world, be a human being instead of a couch potato. I’ll even make it easy with some suggestions for those of you living in the charmingly grungy region of northeast PA known as the Valley.

Go for a hike.

There are several excellent trails and hiking spots in our area, The Back Mountain Trail, running from Luzerne into Dallas is a good trail with relatively gentle elevation changes, and stairs for the few areas that aren’t. It’s also bicycle accessible, including rails for walking you bike up and down stairs with little effort. Other good locations include the Susquehanna Trail on Rt. 11, and Moon Lake Park off Rt. 29 (These locations are all also good spots for Geocaching)

Take a swim.

Lake Jean, Francis Slocum, Nay Aug Park and several other locations provide great swimming accommodations, either in pools or in lakes. Pools are of course safer for young children and inexperienced swimmers, but lakes can offer more adventure if you don’t mind potentially getting a little dirty. Trips to local lakes with my friends usually yield interesting treasures recovered from the lakebed. Jars, sunglasses, loose change and even scuba gear have been fished out of the depths, usually by my more adventurous companions.

Get involved in the arts.

Take a class or summer course in something that interests you, whether it’s pottery, painting, dancing, or learning an instrument. I’m personally biased towards the Harris Conservatory for the Arts, in Luzerne. Their facility is home to the Joan Harris Dancers, as well as the Dragons’ Tale Karate School, Kidtunes Guitar Program and Ripple Effect Music.

Read a book.

Okay, this is an easy one. Luzerne county has a large library network, and library cards are free. If you’re truly stumped on what to read first, I’d recommend the following;

"The Martian," by Andy Weir: The story of a lone astronaut stranded on Mars and struggling to survive. It was recently adapted into another movie called ‘Saving Matt Damon, Part 3’ (Just kidding, it’s called The Martian)

The "Fablehaven" series, by Brandon Mull: Two children discover their grandparents are the caretakers of a sanctuary for mythical creatures; it gets pretty thrilling as the series continues.

"Maximum Ride," by James Patterson: The first person narrative of the life of a teenage girl… who was genetically modified and imprisoned in a science lab for most of her youth. Very action-packed.

Hopefully that’ll give you a start of having some more interesting free time, and hopefully it’ll give your phone a chance to rest and be spared a few Cheeto dust fingerprints.