We’ve all been there…down that virtual hole. Dark, alluring, endlessly entertaining. We feel comforted, relaxed, at ease in our chosen haven, at first. Then after hours and hours of being engaged in mindless, meaningless content, we start to feel sick, lonely, anxious, agitated. Virtual worlds cause us to lose touch with what is real and right in front of us upsetting those around us. We start to wonder “What would life be like…beyond the screen”?
Many of us have taken this dive into the virtual hole of screen addiction. For the past six months I’ve dealt with chronic pain, pre and post-surgical, and the virtual world became my haven, my escape. I was shocked to discover how similar picking up my cell phone and popping pills were in managing my pain and enabling me to cope. Scary…really. I watched myself slowly descend into a place where all there was for me was the next movie. I stopped reaching out to my friends and family, lost connections with colleagues. Climbing out of the virtual hole wasn’t easy but became surmountable once I discovered a path. I practiced what I preached and began to increase pursuit of more healthy activities. With a bit of grit and determination, I finally replaced time spent on screens with doing things I loved – swimming, gardening, cooking, reading, tree gazing, hiking, woodworking. I began to reach out again to family and friends for companionship and laughter. I slowly found my life again, and through the process, found myself and regained what I hadn’t even realized I lost…my soul.
Now out of the virtual hole of addiction, I can look back with insight into how debilitating my phone and the internet were to my ability to manage my day-to-day life. It felt almost as if my phone sucked the soul right out of me, as I lost my ability to care about anything else. When we pick up a phone we are immediately comforted, as Big Tech and AI makes sure we get exactly what we want all the time. Yet this feeling of euphoria is merely an illusion because the internet is not and never will be real. What makes humans happy is other humans…real face to face interactions. Big Tech has meticulously designed a world so attractive, so easy, so pleasing that at first it appears better than reality…but it isn’t. Parallel to the virtual world is our real world which contains real people, adventures and challenges that are being missed when we are consumed by a screen. We have been deluded by Big Tech to think that we need our phones to be a central, integral part of our lives, when we don’t. Big Tech has stolen from us everything that we value and that gives our lives sustenance. Big Tech has stolen our lives, our souls, and now it’s time to reclaim what is ours.
I’m going to invite you on a journey, to uncover your own interests and activities that make you get out of bed, put a smile on your face, and give your life meaning and purpose. Just as I did for myself, I’m here to help you ascend out of your virtual hole. We are going to move forward to create a vision of life beyond the screen not only for you, but for your family, friends and coworkers and if you have children, for them, their school and their classmates. Here we go. Vision yourselves above your virtual hole looking down. See yourself, your family, your workplace, your schools, your communities…everyone is glued to screens. It’s a bleak picture. They all look pale, sad, angry and agitated. Now look up, into the sky, where you will soon take flight and soar. Put on your ‘eagle wings’ because we are going to fly up, far above the mess Big Tech has created. This upward vision will give you the perspective you will need to fly out of your virtual hole. Now…let’s vision what life Beyond the Screen will be like in your homes, schools, workplaces and community settings. Once we create and hold space for this vision, reality will soon follow.
Before we get started on our journey, I’d like to talk about funding and implementation assistance needed to achieve your vision of a sustainable future for yourself and those around you. In following paragraphs, I detail a variety of vision ideas for homes, schools, workplaces and community environments which are research-evidenced to be effective in promoting human health and well-being. Assistance with funding and implementing these endeavours involves every one of us teaming up with Big Tech because to create truly sustainable futures, we need to involve producers and consumers of technology. Instead of suing Big Tech, I’m visioning a shift from a model of litigation to one of restitution.
In the past, Big Tech’s focus on fiscal rewards limited their ability to recognize all the harmful effects of their products. Valuing only monetary rewards ultimately “dehumanized” not only the tech industry, but also everyone who uses their products. Big Tech inadvertently sucked the heart and soul out of every tech user, eventually losing their own hearts and souls in the process. We no longer need to prove that screens are detrimental to human health and productivity…this is fact (see my Reconnect Webinar Fact Sheet with over 600 referenced research articles showing harmful effects of screens). Instead of litigation, let’s offer Big Tech a unique opportunity to step up to the plate and fiscally assume responsibility to pay for and repair damages caused to humanity. Working together with federal, provincial/state and civic governments, Big Tech can offer their expertise and provide funds as required to mediate harm caused by their products. Big Tech Healing Humanity. Stage one of Big Tech Healing Humanity comprises an initial infusion of funds into homes, schools, workplace and community settings to repair and heal damage caused by screens. Stage two involves a percentage of annual profits from Big Tech donated on an ongoing basis to maintain and upgrade these visions. A not-for profit organization oversees this process to ensure no conflict of interest nor corruption occurs.
Vision ideas for homes would include parents no longer being controlled and consumed by their cell phones. Parents have regular times during the day where they access their phones, but the rest of the time, the phones live in a station that is hidden from view. Children ages 0-16 years do not have access to handheld devices (cell phones, tablets), and have strict limits and restrictions set on laptop and TV use (see below Technology Use Guidelines Chart). Parents have at least three hobbies or interests that they pursue every day. If parents have children living at home, two of those three hobbies include their children with one hobby being theirs and theirs alone. Start this process by exploring family interests and cultural values and learn what motivates you to pursue purposeful and meaningful activities (download “100 Things to Do Other Than Screens”). With initial and ongoing infusion of funds from Big Tech into health care required to treat screen addictions, families will be able to access free of charge therapeutic services including parent coaching, family counselling, summer unplug camps, outpatient therapy or inpatient admission.
Technology Use Guidelines Chart for Children and Youth
Developmental Age | Duration | Non-violent, pro-social TV, cartoons | Non-violent, pro-social video games | OFFLINE violent video games | Handheld devices | ONLINE violent video games and/or pornography |
0-2 years
| none | never | never | never | never | never |
3-5 years
| 1 hour/day total screens | okay | never | never | never | never |
6-12 years
| 2 hours/day total screens | okay | limit to 15 minutes/day | never | never | never |
13-18 years
| 2 hours/day total screens | okay | limit to 30 minutes/day | rated > 13 years | okay > 16 yrs | never |
Technology Use Guidelines are research-evidenced and written by Cris Rowan, pediatric occupational therapist, Dr. Hilarie Cash, cofounder reSTART Internet Addition Center and Dr. Andy Doan, neuroscientist, ophthalmologist, researcher. Revised Sept. 2024
Vision ideas for schools, the only screen devices available to students are Ethernet cabled laptops located in a computer lab which classes access once per day for half an hour. Each classroom and library have a set of encyclopedias in addition to paper, pencils, pens and chalkboards. There are NO screens in classrooms. Students in every grade are taught how to print and perform cursive writing. Grade level written output speeds are achieved to attain grade level literacy (see below Printing Output Speeds Chart). Children and teens who are slow writers fail in every subject, including math, as they are focused on the motoric of HOW to make their letters and numbers instead of composing what they are going to write…so we are going to teach them to write! All students have two recesses per day in addition to lunch, and there are planned, organized activities as well as designated space for free play. Children have outdoor, covered playgrounds that are interesting, inspiring and contain an element of risk. Teens have Fit Core stations, basketball courts, and BarStarzz equipment. Balls are easily accessible and not locked up. The foyer is stocked with games including chess, ping-pong, foosball, volleyball, badminton, etc. Gyms contain obstacle courses that students can access before school, after school and during lunch while music is playing, loud. Vision this…you build it, and they will come. Schools will receive provision of funds from Big Tech for student counselling and programs to address and treat screen addiction.
Printing Output Speeds Chart
|
Grade |
K |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
|
Letters per Minute (lpm) |
8.5 |
18.9 |
33.9 |
47.3 |
63.2 |
72.7 |
84.7 |
99.9 |
115.2 |
117.6 |
Printed with permission from Graham, Weintraub, Berninger, and Schafter (1998)
Vision ideas for workplaces include designated places where cell phones live out of sight and out of mind… in a drawer, purse or coat pocket. There exists a ‘social area’ where cell phones are prohibited. People come together in this welcoming space around tables for eating or team meetings, with surround couches, exercise equipment and green space. Employees work no more than four days a week, eight hours a day, which allows them a three-day weekend to pursue interests with family and friends. Two 15-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch are mandatory, to be spent either in the social area or outside in nature. Regular in-person team meetings will be held for which attendance is mandatory. Productivity measures are developed so employees are able to track improved work output. Workplaces will receive provision of funds from Big Tech for employee counselling and programs to address and treat screen addiction.
Vision ideas for communities include free passes for children and families to recreation centers, swimming pools, ice rinks, etc. Beaches, parks and forests have attractions for children and teens, such as volleyball nets, basketball courts, bike trails, tree houses, and piles of loose parts for building forts and imaginary play spaces. Inner city locations have a park or play space every 12 city blocks that follows ‘safe park’ guidelines e.g. fenced with switch back exits, adequate lighting, covered areas for sun/rain/snow, trees pruned for visual access to whole area, etc. Rural areas are connected to cities by bike trails. Civic governments are key players in creating these visions. Communities will receive provision of funds from Big Tech for community support programs for people addicted to screens.
I was consulting with a not-for-profit group in Kenya and ran this idea to involve Big Tech in solutions for screen overuse by them. I asked the group what they would do if Microsoft handed them a million dollars. Very interesting answer. Group members said would like to create safe, sustainable environments for children to dance and play…screen-free, but wants the work to be done by children to build their capacity, skills, authenticity and creativity e.g. clean up riverbeds and lakes, plant trees, pick up garbage, paint art on structures, plant food, work on farms etc. Group wants to embed native culture and traditions into these projects to remind adults where they came from and to build intracommunity dialogue. Group thinks that Big Tech should not be degrading human ability to put down the phone for their own financial profit, but instead be supporting them with project funds. Group said that Big Tech should develop devices and programs that enhances user’s strengths, not exploit their weaknesses. Big Tech can learn from us how to stop harming and start healing humanity to make the world a better place.
When we pick up a screen and enter the internet, we escape into an oblivion devoid of everything and everyone we value. Scrolling through endless hours of mindless entertainment prevents us from experiencing what is real, alive and pulsating right in front of us. The virtual world is alluring, dark, comforting and exciting but also is not safe and is causing undue harm and risk of addiction to all who use it. The internet is no more than an illusion, and its deception ultimately leads to our demise. We are choosing an early death over life using cell phones and the internet and this is not what we want.
Let’s make the choice to move beyond the screen. Put down the phone and pick up your children, car keys, paddle, beach towel, hiking poles, bird book, chess set, whatever brings you joy, pick it up and go on a journey of your own making, go on an adventure that makes you feel alive, go love someone, do something nice for a friend, kiss your partner, say you’re sorry and move on…beyond the screen…and don’t ever look back!
Beyond the Screen – Create a life worth living.
Author Credentials
Cris Rowan is a pediatric occupational therapist, biologist, author, international speaker passionate about changing the ways in which children use technology. Rowan’s expertise includes detrimental impact of screens on child brain/body development, behavior and learning. Rowan’s website is www.reconnectwebinars.com (with > 500 research references on Fact Sheet in Resource section), blog is www.movingtolearn.ca and book is “Virtual Child”.
