The No Screen Challenge

9/30

Here I am, in my office for the day, with everything I need. I had an organized departure from my house in the morning (no scrambling to find my office keys or a pair of clean underwear ). My kitchen will be clean enough for my wife to use today. Much of this is thanks to this challenge keeping me away from YouTube and blogs. Thank you!

 

0/30

My wife and I were going to watch some netflix and while I was waiting for her I went on amazon. Watching netflix with her is allowed by my rules, browsing amazon isn't.)

I'll get to 30 someday!

 

1/30

Got one last night! Instead of reading websites or watching YouTube, I massaged my wife's sore knee and read a couple pages of John Updike's Rabbit, Run. (I would have read more, but by 9 p.m., I generally start nodding off after two pages...)

 

Mistakes happen. It's cool that it only took you ten minutes. Before I started this challenge, that kind of thing could have cost me much longer. (Work leads to browsing the web leads to YouTube leads to porn leads to...)

 

Great reasons. Those are the main reasons I took this challenge, too. In addition, though, I find I'm wasting way less time on things that don't make me happy or help me achieve a goal. For example, I haven't gotten stuck in YouTube's recommended videos since I started this challenge! In the evenings, I listen to records, CDs, or the radio while I clean up and prepare for the next day.

 

2/30

Last night was a rough one. My kiddo (sixteen months old) was wide awake and in the mood to play from 12:30-3:30 or so. And when mom and I didn't want to play, she got very upset and very loud. After something like that, I need to unwind a bit before going to sleep. In the past, I would have tried to do so by watching Netflix or YouTube. Sometimes it might have worked; other times, I'd watch something too stimulating or transition from those sites to something that would work me up, like online political debates. Even if I stuck to relatively relaxing content, it would often be so engaging that I'd keep watching well beyond the point when I was adequately unwound to go to sleep.

Anyway, last night I read my book--Run, Rabbit by John Updike--for ten minutes or so then went to sleep. It was a horrible night and I didn't get much sleep. But it probably would have been even worse if it weren't for this challenge.

 

Lately I've re-discovered the power of a good book before bed. I'd always known it was a good thing. But lately I've been appreciating its power to draw me to bed and away from screens. But it's gotta be a book you enjoy and that keeps you turning pages. If a book isn't doing it for you from page one (okay, maybe two), give up on it and try another one.

That's been my experience lately, anyway.

 

By the way, I was totally in the same boat--way too much PC use. I was living my life on screens. This challenge has helped me a lot with that.