Screen-free Week

This week is screen-free week. I've heard people chatting about it here and there, and it is the topic of discussion at this month’s parent evening at the kids’ school. But other than that, it doesn’t really affect us since our kids don’t get any screen time as it is. 

Dave and I, however, love watching TV. Yep, we make a point of depriving our children of any sort of electronic technology, and then we ourselves spend a good hour every evening zoning out in front of whatever pop culture has to offer – with teen dramas ranking among our (my) favorites. We may even qualify as binge-watchers when we stumble on a particularly riveting show. And by riveting, I mean the main character has long straight hair and a love interest. I can’t explain it, but watching someone with the hair I have always longer for fall in love with some near-perfect guy in a near-perfect world in which no one has to make grocery lists or sweep the floor is utterly relaxing.

But it is also a big old, mind-numbing waste of time.

So when Dave and I were going over one of our to-do lists today, we realized we’d never get to all of it… unless we cut down on our TV watching this week. As soon as the words were out, it occurred to us: screen-free week. Well, at least TV-free week since we both use our computers for work.

I’m not exactly excited about it. I look forward to this down time every evening. It is time to just sit still with Dave and take a break from reality, it pushes away the stresses of life, and it is easy, especially after a long day when we are both physically and mentally exhausted. I admit, I’ll miss it.

But I am curious to see how it affects our productivity. Will I get more done? Or will the usual amount of work just expand to fill up the time because I won’t actually have the energy to do more, even given an extra hour or two?  Will Dave feel less overwhelmed by his to-do list? Will his office finally get cleaned and organized?

I guess we’ll find out.