Reframing “screens are mindless”

Aren’t we all entitled to a little mindless entertainment?

🙋🏻‍♂️Anyone else enjoy “zoning out” to TV? Me too. And so do kids. (And there’s nothing wrong with that)

📱Screens can do many things: we can learn from them, they can distract us, they can enthrall us, and they can comfort us.

🧠This isn’t necessarily good or bad. Sometimes being distracted by a screen prevents us from meeting our responsibilities. But other times a distraction is welcome; after a bad day, or during a period of anxiety, it’s nice to have a distraction.

🤔Maybe we fear our kids will use screens “too much” because we feel that’s true for us; that’s a reasonable fear. But will we change our child’s relationship with screens by dismissing the role screens can often play in our lives?

🤯We put a huge emphasis on always improving, always learning, and always being productive. But rest, relaxation, and yes, mindlessness are valid. Should they be all we do? No. But if we can recognize the validity they may have, we may also be able to identify what it is our kids are trying to mollify with a screen.

🧠If we do want our kids to have other ways of relaxing, coping, or resting without a screen, we can do that. But we can do that without vilifying the screen for being the more attractive option; that can lend itself to power struggles and distract us from focusing on the feelings and behaviors we’re trying to help our kids with.

What is your go-to TV show when you need to zone out? Tell me in the comments!