Editorial: Time for less screen time

Hawke's Bay Today News Editor James Ford. Photo / File

This week our house has been a hotbox of germs.

My partner caught the wretched cough that is doing the rounds while our 1-year-old son was on the wrong end of a tonsillitis / ear infection double whammy.

I knew my turn was coming.
On the roulette table of sickness my spin eventually landed on the cough.

Like my father always says, the key to beating a cold is rest and plenty of water.
But, as an extremely poor sleeper at the best of times, this proved difficult.

So I made a decision that would make most millennials wince.
A self-imposed ban on technology.

No phone, no tablet, no TV, and, ultimately, no distractions.
In the eight hours of being screen free I was shocked at how utterly dependent on technology I have become.

In a line of work in which your finger must always be on the pulse of breaking news, and, as someone that is innately curious as to what's going on around the globe, I struggled.

I felt a sense of anxiety - ironically lost in the freedom of not being shackled by a device.
But, between naps, I noticed I was more present.

I spoke more, both to my fiancé, and son.
My attention wasn't divided or distracted.

There was no "ping" of an email that needed checking or droning commentary of an unwatched TV.

I didn't interrupt myself to check my phone through an odd technology-based tic I seem to have developed.

Technology has its place, but this little experiment on a sick day gave me food for thought.

It's time for less screen time.