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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to make screen free time more tempting.

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Speaker 1: It is not enough to rely on willpower to put

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Speaker 1: down the screens. You want to make sure that the

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Speaker 1: playing field is fair. I know from talking with many

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Speaker 1: people about how they spend their time that lots of

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Speaker 1: people are appalled at how many hours they spend staring

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Speaker 1: at screens. There is the stuff we have to do,

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Speaker 1: of course, like answering your boss's email, but then there

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Speaker 1: are copious minutes spent on social media and headline scrolling.

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Speaker 1: We might spend evening streaming various entertainment options. Now I

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Speaker 1: will say that there is nothing wrong with any of this,

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Speaker 1: per se. The question is more the balance. If you'd

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Speaker 1: love to read, or do hobbies or get together with friends,

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Speaker 1: and you feel like you never have the time, but

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Speaker 1: the screen time function on your phone claims you are

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Speaker 1: on optional stuff for hours daily, well that is a

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Speaker 1: different matter. What's going on is that screen based entertainment

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Speaker 1: is designed to be almost irresistibly alluring. Thousands of brilliant

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Speaker 1: people have devoted their professional lives to keeping you hooked,

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Speaker 1: checking back for the ninetieth time to see if all

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Speaker 1: your friends like that post, or starting the next episode.

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Speaker 1: Sheer Will Power alone is not going to combat all

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Speaker 1: those brilliant people. Instead, you need to make more strategic

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Speaker 1: choices to level the playing field, and that means making

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Speaker 1: non screen entertainment more tempting. So think about what you'd

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Speaker 1: like to do. Do you like to read, Then you

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Speaker 1: need to make sure that you always have a book

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Speaker 1: you can't wait to read with you. You want it

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Speaker 1: to be ready to be picked up whenever you have

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Speaker 1: a spare moment. Buy that new bestseller, go to the

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Speaker 1: library and get a stack of two dozen books so

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Speaker 1: you have one for any mood. Maybe even some brainless

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Speaker 1: stuff like pretty coffee table books. If you are looking

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Speaker 1: to replicate that scrolling sensation. Make sure you're fun is

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Speaker 1: as accessible as possible. If you like to do puzzles,

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Speaker 1: common deer, a central table No, maybe not where you

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Speaker 1: eat multiple meals a day, but not somewhere far away

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Speaker 1: where you are never going to go. You want to

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Speaker 1: see your fun frequently. Same with that lego set or

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Speaker 1: crafting supplies. If you have to go hunt down your

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Speaker 1: art supplies, you aren't going to use them, so get

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Speaker 1: over any worries about a little bit of clutter. Better

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Speaker 1: to keep them out and use them, then have them

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Speaker 1: nicely put away and have them stay nicely put away.

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Speaker 1: You should also think about actively filling your leisure time

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Speaker 1: with non screen stuff. There are a lot of hours

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Speaker 1: during the week, and so I promise that even people

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Speaker 1: with jobs and families can make commitments with their leisure time.

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Speaker 1: Join that book club or spiritual small group, start taking

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Speaker 1: piano or voice lessons, sign up for the softball league.

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Speaker 1: You can swap kid coverage with your partner or a

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Speaker 1: neighbor or a friend. Or you can find things you

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Speaker 1: can do alongside your kids, or at least at the

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Speaker 1: same time. Instead of scrolling while your kid is at

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Speaker 1: a piano lesson, you take a martial arts class at

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Speaker 1: the studio next door. I have been thinking about this

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Speaker 1: with my kids as well. One reason we have decided

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Speaker 1: to get a really cool outdoor place set is that

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Speaker 1: it will be more competitive with screens than a more

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Speaker 1: ho hum version. We parked the bikes and pogo sticks

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Speaker 1: right outside on the porch so they are there for playing.

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Speaker 1: I mean, frankly, we almost trip over them. On the

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Speaker 1: way in the door. But that is kind of the

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Speaker 1: point you come home from school and think, hey, nice day,

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Speaker 1: I could go ride my bike. I have told the

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Speaker 1: kids that if they want a particular book, I will

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Speaker 1: make sure that they get it. I try to buy

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Speaker 1: used books or get books from the library, but I

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Speaker 1: am also willing to buy them new. To me, it

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Speaker 1: is worth the money because a good book makes non

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Speaker 1: screen time a lot more attractive. Screen time fills a

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Speaker 1: time vacuu him when we don't think about how we

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Speaker 1: want to spend our time, we will spend it on

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Speaker 1: whatever is easiest. Since we have our phones with us,

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Speaker 1: that tends to be social media and headline scrolling and

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Speaker 1: the like. When we make non screen entertainment more tempting,

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Speaker 1: though the playing field feels more level. We spend less

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Speaker 1: time online, not because we have suddenly gained huge amounts

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Speaker 1: of willpower, but just because there's less a morphous time

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Speaker 1: that has to be filled with something. It really does

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Speaker 1: change the game. If you have taken active steps to

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Speaker 1: make screen free time more alluring, I'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: what you have done. You can reach me at Laura

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Speaker 1: at Laura Vanderkam dot com in the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and years to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast pod that's b the number four, then Breakfast

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Speaker 1: p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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Speaker 1: at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com

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Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I Heart Radio. For

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart

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Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

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Speaker 1: favorite shows.