The Importance of Screen-Free Time

Lockdown, caused by the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, has brought alongside it a tidal wave of disruption to the way in which we live our day to day life. The way that we travel, work, socialise, relax and more have had to undergo major changes, due to the virus, and it has resulted in a lot of confusion for a vast number of people, as they try and adopt to this new situational “norm”.

One constant that has emerged for a large majority of people over the last few months is a very large increase in the amount of time that we spend staring at different screens, be that a computer screen, the television screens, ones on your phones and tablets, you name it.

Today we are going to be looking at the importance of having some Screen-Free Time where we can.

Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!

Today’s blog is going to be looking at the importance of having some time away from screens in your day to day life. The large majority of us are now spending a lot of time behind screens, since the lockdowns started, and if we are not careful with how we go about managing it, it can really have a massive impact on your life. I noticed the amount of time that I was spending behind a screen a few weeks ago and it really did make me think about how I can go about reducing my screen-time.

Currently, I am working 4 different jobs/positions which has resulted in me behind behind my laptop for large portions of the day. I work 9-5 from Monday-Friday for my placement position, I spend several hours writing and monitoring this page during the week, I regularly post and am active on my LinkedIn profile and more.

What started to happen to me was that I was getting stuck in a routine of cycling screens all day long . From when I wake up I watch TV, either catching up on the news or watching something on Netflix, then I work on my laptop from 9-5, after this I usually watch TV or go on my iPad when I am having food, then spend the rest of the night either watching something on my iPad, on my phone or behind a TV screen.

I have found over the last few weeks that all of the time that I spent staring at a screen was starting to drain me massively. My eyes felt very strained, I would get spells where I was having quite bad headaches and it did start to affect my sleep. I’m quite lucky that I have a really good chair to work on which really helps me keep a good posture, or else I could be in the unfortunate situation to be experiencing back-pain too.

Taking some screen-free time can really make a massive difference on your life. Even an hour or two, here and there, can really help rest your eyes and mind, and give you some time to recharge. If you leave half hour or more before you got to bed being screen-free, it will really help you in getting a good night sleep. Don’t let screens drain you of all of your energy take a break when you can.

If you would like me to write a blog on some of the things that you can do to get some screen-free time, please do let me know and I will make it happen, these can vary from meditation to music, from walking to podcasts and more. I’m not saying to not spend any time behind a screen whatsoever, all I am saying is take a break when you can, and really think about how important having some no screen can be for your life.

That’s all I want to talk about in today’s blog, thank you all for reading! What do you think? Do you spend some time away from your screen each day? If so, how do you do it? Do you think it is important to have some “screen-free” time in your day to day life? Are there any other blogs that you would like to see me write about for the page? Let me know your answer to the above questions, and any other thoughts or queries that you may have about the page in the comments below!

Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a great day!

James Sweeney