Screen-Life Balance

Work-life balance, move over, step aside! This challenge is even bigger, harder: Screen-life balance. 

We are missing important moments because we're tied to screens. Life is passing us by. We're looking in the wrong place. We need to refocus.

Screens have taken over our lives. People even take their phones to the bathroom, can't be without them for an instant. People look at their phones while they're looking at a bigger screen, scrolling while watching a movie or working at a computer. In fact, I think some people might scratch their heads and wonder about the concept of life and screens being separate things. How is that possible, life without screens, and why would you even consider it? 

I don't take my phone everywhere. I often have no pockets, and that's okay (I wish more women's clothing had pockets, but that's another story.). I often miss a call or text or message, and my kids sometimes roll their eyes because they know that I regularly put my phone down and forget about it. The fact that it's always on silent makes it hard to find (more eye rolling).

I'm not a luddite, not anti-technology, but I think this screen focus is dangerous. Many people are overly attached to what other people think and get addicted to the dings of notifications on their fashionable new phones and tablets. I can enjoy things I see and hear and eat without taking pictures of them to share. It's not anti-social. Sometimes I share. But, it's my life and I want to live it. I like real live life.

Maybe I like things old-fangled.

I don't usually know what the most popular movies or TV shows are, but sometimes I read about them, and sometimes I watch them. I've always been this way. It's not something related to my age, but it's not a big deal now that I'm older. 

I like cooking and gardening, reading and writing, singing and dancing, having dinner and drinks with friends, and I like doing these things, not watching them on a screen.

Life is there, in the things I do, especially the things I love to do. 

When the pandemic is over, we'll have more opportunities to do more things without screens. More life, less Zoom.

When I was working, I drank a lot of tea so that I'd have to step away from the computer screen intermittently. I made sure to take a lunch break downstairs too. Now, I still make sure to step away from the computer to stretch my legs and to do something else, something I can do standing preferably. That could be age-related, because my body complains when I do anything too much. But, it's a lifestyle thing, a not-sitting thing.

Sometimes, I spend way too much time looking at Pinterest, or Instagram and Facebook. I can get stuck there for hours if I'm not careful (ga!). I set a time limit on my phone for social media because I noticed that I was sitting and scrolling for hours every day. And, I thought I didn't have time to exercise (or clean)!

I walk every day without a step tracker. My phone doesn't come with me, and my Fitbit has been living in a drawer for quite some time now. I don't need to know how many steps I've taken. I just need to walk every day, and try to get up and move as much as I can. When I walk, I look at the sky, trees, flowers, snowflakes, footprints, pawprints, people, dogs, houses, birds, squirrels... My gaze can wander everywhere, and I can also watch where I'm going so I don't walk into things. 

Life is there, away from screens. Lift your gaze. Refocus.