‘Can our family escape the tyranny of the screen?’ Stephen Carrick-Davies asks in a recent article in the Guardian.

by Rune H. Rasmussen

When Stephen Carrick-Davies's son suggested that the family should have one day a week where no one looks at a screen, the jaws of the parents dropped, but the whole family embraced the idea of spending more quality time together. They all agreed that once a week, there were to be no screens before school, no phone calls at meal times and no use of mobile phones or watching TV at night.

However, breaking the dependency of the screen is no easy feat. And, as always, parents need to pave the way and be good role models, as we parents frequently are as ‘addicted’ to our gadgets as we fear our children will be. As well as this, for children and young people, the digital world is an important social arena, a ‘home within the home’ if you like, which is accessed at an ever younger age.

A healthy balance
Eventually, after some trial and error, the family learned that a healthy media life is not necessarily about abstinence, but about balance. Having some non-screen time each day is priceless – with eye-to-eye-contact, talking and laughing together. Still, creating a real connection within the family is mostly about being present, and sharing an uplifting media experience can be just as valuable as screen free quality time.

As Stephen Carrick-Davies writes:
‘The activities and settings where we share our lives with our children may have changed but the need for real, deep connection with them hasn't. Some teenagers really need you to stop what you're doing, snuggle down and watch Waterloo Road, or play a computer game with them and have active, physical screen time, to balance the non-screen time.”

We warmly recommend that you read the full article:

The Guardian
Can our family escape the tyranny of the screen?

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