How many times each day do you find yourself reaching for your phone, or opening social apps? Do you ever find yourself opening a social media app and then realising you'd only just closed it? If social media isn't your thing, how about email? YouTube? Netflix?
Our world is so digital today. I know it's a cliche, but it can be so easy to spend so much time on our phones and tablets that we miss what is happening around us. I was in Israel last month, and it would have cost me over £7 per megabyte to use data. Funnily enough, except where I could find wifi, I had a pretty social-media-free five days!
Now I'm not all that into social media, but I do find myself watching YouTube in the background when I'm doing housework or something that doesn't take much brainpower. I find it scary sometimes how much time passes before I've even realised it.
It was quite freeing in Israel to have a break from screens, almost entirely. I also really valued the time last year when we had just moved into our house, and we didn't have access to a phone line, wifi or even TV yet. There wasn't even much mobile signal. The days seemed so much longer and we were able to fit so much more in.
We've all heard about blue light, social media addictions and various other reasons we should limit our screen time (if not, do a quick Google search!). But for me, it's about noticing what's going on around us and getting more out of the time available.
So did you take a screen break? What did you find? Maybe we should all take a moment to plan in a screen break soon.