My daughter just got her first phone for her 11th birthday. We really wanted to wait until she was 12, but she’s in a new school with new transportation challenges and being able to get a hold of her and vice versa before and after school became a necessity.

All of a sudden, I’m obsessed with screen time.

Not so much hers, because she’s only getting very limited use of the phone (for now, anyway.) But ours. We use our phones for too much. Reading. Checking the time. Looking up directions. Instructions. Music. As a TV remote. As an alarm clock. The list goes on and on and on.

I was listening to The Slow Home Podcast today and Brooke talked about how they have screen-free bedrooms and at least one screen-free day each weekend. She talked about how this makes her more conscious of the mindless pickups and scrolling and email checking and everything else we do that eats up hours and hours of time without us noticing.

A screen-free bedroom, or day, seems daunting to me. First of all, does a Kindle count as a screen (I’d argue that a paperwhite does not, but I’d like to hear opinions.) Second, what if I need to go somewhere. Third… wait… I think I just ran out of rational objections. I wonder if I could do this…

I don’t check my email right before bed or first thing in the morning. I don’t have a high-stress job, but I’m very good at stressing myself out. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about work often enough without it. But I do often go for “one last look” at Instagram or Facebook (even without the app, I look at it on Safari. I almost think I should get the app so it gets tracked separately in screen time so I can see how much I really use it) or or or… usually when I’m too tired and my brain won’t shut off to go to sleep.

It would require buying an alarm clock (I use a daylight alarm app and would want the same thing…waking up to light rather than noise has been life-changing) and… and, nothing. That’s it. If I had a real alarm clock, I could have a screen-free bedroom.

My argument against a screen-free day would have always been “but what if I want to write?” Answer: Pen and paper. I’ve been doing this for the last two weeks anyway and, while I’m writing more slowly, I think it’s maybe some of the best writing I’ve done (says the author prior to having re-read any of the work.) Regardless, it just feels really good right now.

Huh. Maybe this actually is doable.

And it might be a good #last90days experiment. (Which, BTW, is going great. Except for the actual workouts, because my body is still recovering from surgery. But I’m consciously doing something each day until I can actually work out every day. Today I did a 1-minute plank and a 2-minute wall sit while watching Queer Eye and I deserve a medal.)

Do any of you do a screen-free day each week? Or have a screen-free bedroom? What are your rules around screen time for yourself (not your kids.) I’m curious.