Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to make screen free time more tempting. It
Speaker 1: is not enough to rely on willpower to put down
Speaker 1: the screens. You want to make sure that the playing
Speaker 1: field is fair. I know from talking with many people
Speaker 1: about how they spend their time that lots of people
Speaker 1: are appalled at how many hours they spend staring at screens.
Speaker 1: There is the stuff we have to do, of course,
Speaker 1: like answering your boss's email, but then there are copious
Speaker 1: minutes spent on social media and headline scrolling. We might
Speaker 1: spend evenings streaming various entertainment options. Now I will say
Speaker 1: that there is nothing wrong with any of this, per se.
Speaker 1: The question is more the balance. If you'd love to read,
Speaker 1: or do hobbies or get together with friends, and you
Speaker 1: feel like you never have the time, but the screen
Speaker 1: time function on your phone claims you are on optional
Speaker 1: stuff for hours daily, well that is a different matter.
Speaker 1: What's going on is that screen based entertainment is designed
Speaker 1: to be almost irresistibly alluring. Thousands of brilliant people have
Speaker 1: devoted their professional lives to keeping you hooked, checking back
Speaker 1: for the ninetieth time to see if all your friends
Speaker 1: like that post, or starting the next episode. Sheer Willpower
Speaker 1: alone is not going to combat all those brilliant people. Instead,
Speaker 1: you need to make more strategic choices to level the
Speaker 1: playing field, and that means making non screen entertainment more tempting.
Speaker 1: So think about what you'd like to do. Do you
Speaker 1: like to read, Then you need to make sure that
Speaker 1: you always have a book you can't wait to read
Speaker 1: with you. You want it to be ready to be
Speaker 1: picked up whenever you have a spare moment. Buy that
Speaker 1: new bestseller, Go to the library and get a stack
Speaker 1: of two dozen books so you have one for any mood.
Speaker 1: Maybe even some brainless stuff like pretty coffee table books.
Speaker 1: If you are looking to replicate that scrolling sensation. Make
Speaker 1: sure your fun is as accessible as possible. If you
Speaker 1: like to do puzzles, commandeer a central table. No, maybe
Speaker 1: not where you eat multiple meals a day, but not
Speaker 1: somewhere far away where you are never going to go.
Speaker 1: You want to see your fun frequently. Same with that
Speaker 1: lego set or crafting supplies. If you have to go
Speaker 1: hunt down your art supplies, you aren't going to use them,
Speaker 1: so get over any worries about a little bit of clutter.
Speaker 1: Better to keep them out and use them, then have
Speaker 1: them nicely put away and have them stay nicely put away.
Speaker 1: You should also think about actively filling your leisure time
Speaker 1: with nonscreen stuff. There are a lot of hours during
Speaker 1: the week, and so I promise that even people with
Speaker 1: jobs and families can make commitments with their leisure time.
Speaker 1: Join that book club or spiritual small group, start taking
Speaker 1: piano or voice lessons, sign up for the softball league.
Speaker 1: You can swap kid coverage with your partner or a
Speaker 1: neighbor or a friend. Or you can find things you
Speaker 1: can do alongside your kids, or at least at the
Speaker 1: same time. Instead of scrolling while your kid is at
Speaker 1: a piano lesson, you take in martial arts class at
Speaker 1: the studio next door. I have been thinking about this
Speaker 1: with my kids as well. One reason we have decided
Speaker 1: to get a really cool outdoor playset is that it
Speaker 1: will be more competitive with screens than a more hoe
Speaker 1: hum version. We park the bikes and pogo sticks right
Speaker 1: outside on the porch so they are there for playing.
Speaker 1: I mean, frankly, we almost trip over them on the
Speaker 1: way in the door. But that is kind of the
Speaker 1: point you come home from school and think, hey, nice day,
Speaker 1: I could go ride my bike. I have told the
Speaker 1: kids that if they want a particular book, I will
Speaker 1: make sure that they get it. I try to buy
Speaker 1: used books or get books from the library, but I
Speaker 1: am also willing to buy them new. To me, it
Speaker 1: is worth the money because a good book makes nonscreen
Speaker 1: time a lot more attractive. Screen time fills a time
Speaker 1: vacuum when we don't think about how we want to
Speaker 1: spend our time, we will spend it on whatever is easiest.
Speaker 1: Since we have our phones with us twenty four to seven,
Speaker 1: that tends to be social media and headline scrolling and
Speaker 1: the like. When we make non screen entertainment more tempting,
Speaker 1: though the playing field feels more level. We spend less
Speaker 1: time online, not because we have suddenly gained huge amounts
Speaker 1: of willpower, but just because there is less amorphous time
Speaker 1: that has to be filled with something. It really does
Speaker 1: change the game. If you have taken active steps to
Speaker 1: make screen free time more alluring, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: what you have done. You can reach me at Laura
Speaker 1: at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Speaker 1: breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
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