The answer is quite interesting. I would love to say that we totally stuck to our commitment. I would love to tell you that we all sat around, every single night, for one whole hour without using any technology. But, I don’t think that would be totally truthful. I can say that we tried.
In fact, I actually think that we did pretty well. As I had predicted it was easy to find things to do that did not involve any screen time. We played many rounds of the board game Life. We played a lot of dominoes. My kids discovered the joy of lining dominoes up and knocking them down...over and over again. Some nights we all grabbed our books and caught up on some reading.
The biggest challenge we faced was getting the entire family involved, at the same time. What I hadn’t realized was how late my husband actually gets home from work. Most nights he doesn’t arrive home until after 7pm. My girls go to bed around 8pm. So, that didn’t give us a lot of time for dinner and an hour spent together without technology. This entire exercise emphasized how much time I spend with my girls and how little time my husband spends with my girls. It was quite eye opening.
In the end, our summer tech time out was a lot of fun. All I had to say was, “Girls! Tech Time Out!” and they knew it was time to play some sort of game. Will we be continuing our commitment throughout the school year? Now that school has started up again we are back to our family’s regular routine of no television during the week and only 20 minutes a day on the computer. I have a feeling that once the homework starts and all the extra curricular activities kick in the computer time is going to be gone too. As for next summer, we’ll have to wait and see.
Did you sign up for the Tech Time Out Challenge by insurance provider Foresters? How do you spend your tech-free time with your family?
Disclosure: This post was generously sponsored by insurance provider Foresters, but the opinions and the images are my own. For more information, please visit www.techtimeout.com.
Jamie @ hands on : as we grow says
Good job! I know it would be tough here too. I think this is an excellent idea to do though. With Henry in kindergarten now I feel like we're spending more time going over school papers and such when he gets home. And then we've been doing a lot of crayon time. But I need to learn to shut down the tech at the time and just join them and enjoy it with them. Thanks for the inspiration! You did an awesome job!
maryanne @ mama smiles says
Our kids rarely use technology (although, staying with relatives, that hasn't been the case for the past few weeks), but we don't spend as much time focused on being ALL together as a family - and I love that idea. An hour a day would be amazing, but my husband gets home late as well. Your post has given me a lot to think about!
Cathy @ NurtureStore says
You all did a great job! It's interesting to hear what you learned from it. I bet the girls have loved having the extra family and play time.
Jen says
Yes, it's amazing how much my girls enjoyed and learned during those simple, tech-free moments.
Trisha @ Inspiration Laboratories says
It's easy for us to set aside no tech times in the summer. We just spend the majority of our time outside. Now that school has started again, it's more difficult. My husband is a teacher, so when he gets home most days he is tired and wants to rest. We have to make an effort to turn the tv off and spend time together as a family.
andiejaye says
wow! that sounds like it had some challenges, but you all pulled through wonderfully! it's amazing how much of our days center around technology now versus when I was growing up. I think that this is definitely a challenge that our family needs to take.