Family Adventures in a Digital Detox: A Heartwarming Journey with My Two Sons

Ever wondered how your family would cope without screens for a whole month? Join me and my two sons, Gavin and Quinn, as we reveal our adventures during a digital detox. You'll hear candid thoughts from my 8-year-old and 6-year-old about life without TV, iPads, and other devices, and how they found creative ways to fill their time with activities like drawing, playing with Legos, and getting outside more.

Not only did this detox bring us closer together as a family, but it also allowed us to explore new forms of entertainment - from Club La Paz dance nights to playing card games. Listen in as my boys share their advice for other kids whose parents might be thinking about a digital detox, and discover the importance of being present with the ones we love. This heartwarming and honest conversation is sure to inspire you to consider your own relationship with screens and the benefits of taking a break from the digital world.

Chapters

• 0:04 Digital Detox With Kids
• 8:41 Benefits of Digital Detox
• 17:16 Digital Detoxing Success

Transcript

Speaker 2: What's up everyone. This is Ursula, and I want to welcome you to the You Are Strong podcast, where we find strength in our struggle, and today I have two very special guests with me. My sweet little boys, Gavin and Quinn, say hi guys, hi. Well, we just got done with a digital detox. That meant no TV, no going to the movies, no video games which you guys don't really play anyways, but no iPads what else? No social media for mommy and daddy, and so I wanted to have the boys on so they could talk about their experience with this digital detox. Now, Gavin, why don't you tell everybody how old you are? 

Speaker 1: I'm eight years old. 

Speaker 2: And Quinn, how old are you? 

Speaker 1: I'm six years old. 

Speaker 2: Pro about this digital detox for our family is that they don't have cell phones yet, so they're not connected to like TikTok, snapchat, instagram, all the things, so that made it slightly easier in our household for the two of them. So the main thing that you guys were most bummed about was what. 

Speaker 1: Nurture. 

Speaker 2: Quinn, what about? 

Speaker 1: you iPad. 

Speaker 2: Well, why don't you tell everybody do you guys get to use the iPad all the time? No, What do you have to do if you want to use the iPad? 

Speaker 1: Ask. 

Speaker 2: Yes, so there's only one iPad in our household and they need to ask me if they want, or dad if they want to use it. And when you guys go on there, I mean you just pretty much go on your. They have a monster game through Usborne and then We just a cool little live game. Yeah, that Gavin likes to play. 

Speaker 1: If we take turns doing the iPad. 

Speaker 2: Okay. So for Quinn, the iPad was the bummer when you get to use it. And then for Gavin, no TV. What I'd like to ask you is how you felt about the digital detox. So it was 31 days with no TV. Gavin, speak your truth. 

Speaker 1: Every day I'd be looking at my watch. What time is it and when are we going to be done with digital detox? I mean, like what the heck? no TV is the end of my life. 

Speaker 2: Oh my gosh. But let me ask you something. When you come home from school, what do you typically do? 

Speaker 1: Feed the dog and take a little mango play outside. 

Speaker 2: Okay, correct. So Monday through Friday do you typically even watch TV? 

Speaker 1: Sometimes, When. Like maybe after I'm done watching the live of TV and then go play outside. 

Speaker 2: That's very rare, and he's smirking at me. He knows us for, thankfully, we live in a great neighborhood and the boys are pretty much outside Monday through Friday. you hardly ever even watch TV. Quinn, what do you got? 

Speaker 1: I don't really care, because I usually play Legos and play a lot Me too. 

Speaker 2: Oh, now, all of a sudden, Gavin, you don't care. All right. so Monday through Friday honestly it wasn't that bad, Like when you were in school all day and then you came home, you did your chores and you would go outside and play with your friends. So it wasn't too bad. But then how were the weekends? 

Speaker 1: Yeah, that was kind of bad because I wouldn't have a whole day of school and learning when that wastes a whole day of not watching TV. So then at least, if I get in trouble and I can't go play outside and I can't watch TV, what can I do? Like, what can I do? 

Speaker 2: Well, what did you do during the month of the digital detox? What did you do if you got in trouble and you weren't allowed to go play outside with your friends? because that was pretty much the only thing I could take away from you, because you guys weren't watching TV or the iPad, so I had to take away not going outside to play with your friends. So if you didn't go outside to play with your friends, what were some of the things that you did to keep yourself occupied? 

Speaker 1: Eat food and play Legos. 

Speaker 2: Okay, so you played Legos and also you got very creative. 

Speaker 1: I drew a lot of stuff too. 

Speaker 2: Yeah, you were drawing a lot more Quinn. 

Speaker 1: Well, i really want to be like, i want this day to be a school day, because at school we usually play outside in the dark time. It's why because after this day we go to Hawaii and I really want to go to school, because school takes up a lot of time. Then after we do a game set, then play outside, then it's usually time to go to bed. Then it would be not that long time because I was at school and I really wanted to be at Hawaii so fast. Then I would sleep, then I would fall asleep, then it would be the next day, then we get to go to Hawaii. 

Speaker 2: Okay, now you're all hearing the gibberish that I love that comes out of Quinn's mouth and you're probably like what the heck is this kid talking about? Oh, Quinnie, I love you. Okay, so I think what you meant was when we had the digital detox and you were at school, school took up a big chunk of the day. So you were at school, so you weren't even thinking about it. You weren't thinking about TV and digital detox. Then you came home and you did what Gavin said, which basically meant do your chores and then go outside and play. Then it was time to go to bed. pretty much after that Eat dinner, go to bed. But now that you don't have school, because school ended and we've had like five days at home where school has not taken up a big chunk of your day, now it's kind of like a little bit more boring at home is what you're saying with not watching TV. Is that kind of what you meant, Quinn? 

Speaker 1: Yeah. 

Speaker 2: And you're excited because we are going to go on vacation to Hawaii, back to where we used to live. So that's exciting. So you're just like excited and can't wait for that day, for the day for us to leave, to come right. I think for our family, one of the hardest nights during the week was probably Friday night, because Friday night was movie night And we had to come up with some other things to do on Friday nights. And what did we do? 

Speaker 1: Play cards. 

Speaker 2: Yes, we played games, So what are some of our favorite games that we like to play? 

Speaker 1: Skippo uno checkers. 

Speaker 2: We played a lot of Connect 4 too, and another thing that we were doing was just sitting around together on the couch and talking. Another thing that we got to do I don't remember if it was on a Friday or Saturday night, but we did club La Paz, oh yeah, so you want to explain what club La Paz is, guys? 

Speaker 1: We're club La Paz is something where we write with friends over and we have a dance party. and we're talking right now, yes, in the room And we have this disco thing that we turn the lights off In this room. When it's dark we turn the lights off, then we turn the disco thing on. Then we have songs that we picked. My friend picked two songs and me, my brother picked two songs. Then we dance when the song is on. 

Speaker 2: Yes, so we have a dance party for them in our bonus room. We got strobe lights going and mom's the DJ And we just had so much fun moving our bodies and dancing around. Is that one of your favorite things to do, gav? Yeah, what was your favorite part about the digital detox? 

Speaker 1: That we get to play outside more. I hear that Gav doesn't watch TV more. He plays with me more than watching TV more. 

Speaker 2: What was the worst part about the digital detox? 

Speaker 1: That's hard, yeah nothing. You liked it, quinn. Nothing, honestly. 

Speaker 2: Oh, nothing was the worst part. So you enjoyed spending more time with mom and dad and being outside with your friends and playing and club La Paz and the games. You actually enjoyed it, yep. But what happened on June 1st, when you were able to watch TV again, you woke up at the crack of dawn and went to turn the TV on. Gavin was counting down and I woke up at 6.15 to the sound of the television on. What would you say to other kids who have parents that maybe want to do a digital detox? 

Speaker 1: It's kind of fun and you have more time to do stuff. I mean, if you do it on summer break, it's awesome. And if you have a whole day to watch, i mean not to watch TV, but to go, like, play out with your friends and go have play dates with your friends and like do all that fun stuff instead and just sit down being like, oh my gosh, i love the TV. Like you get more time to go play out with your friends. And if you have another little kid that really likes to play with your brother, the little kid would get to play with your brother more, just like I wanted to play with my brother more too. 

Speaker 2: Well, thank you guys for giving your insight on the digital detox. The decision for a digital detox was completely on a whim. I was out to lunch with a friend of mine and she had mentioned that her church was starting a digital detox on May 1st, which was the next day, and I thought, hmm, that sounds like a really good idea. I feel like we should do that. So I talked to Rob and I said are you in for a digital detox So we can spend more time together as a family and then he and I wouldn't be so connected to our phones and social media? And he agreed. The boys were not super thrilled about it. Especially Gavin Quinn has never been too much into the TV. Even when the TV is on he'll be playing with like Legos or building something, and the TV for him, i think, is more background noise. But Gavin definitely is somebody who gets glued to the television, so for him it was kind of like the end of the world. I would say the first week and weekend was probably the hardest For me when it came to social media. I realized how I just would instantly click on one of my social media apps when I was just sitting around bored, and so you know, when I'm in the car line waiting to pick up the boys, it was an automatic click on Instagram, and it really made me think like wow, oh my gosh, i really am wasting my time, so to say, or zoning out on Instagram when I have nothing quote unquote better to do, and it makes you think back to what the heck was I doing before social media? I can't even remember. To be honest, i've never really been a huge reader, so it's not like I would have a book with me ever, because that's just not something I ever did. So who knows what I did before social media to waste time or to take up my time when I was bored In the evenings, though, it was great, because after my husband and I would put the boys to bed, we'd typically sit and watch a show on Netflix or something, and not only would we be watching the TV show, we'd also have our phones right next to us clicking on a social media site, scrolling through as the TV is on, so that's like a double whammy of outside noise, so to say. So it was nice to be able to put the kids to bed. Then we would go in our room and either read or talk, and I honestly feel like I wanna continue that and not watch TV so much together, because it felt calming as well as, i believe, helped in connecting my husband and I because we didn't have all this outside noise coming in. 

Speaker 2: I also realized for myself I was able to get a lot more done in my day, because how many times do you say, oh, i'm gonna sit down for a second, pick up your phone, start scrolling, and then a second turns into 15 minutes or 30 minutes or even sometimes an hour of sitting there scrolling through your phone, when I could have been way more productive with my time, and so that was great too. I feel like I got a lot more done and I was just more efficient with my time during the day. Overall, i also feel like it brought our family closer in communication. A lot of times in the evenings during the week, instead of playing games because we have a short amount of time between dinner and bedtime We would just sit and chat and talk, and those moments are priceless with our boys And I know that they're still young, but even if you have older kids, those evening family chat sessions I feel are crucial, and I know if you have older kids, it would be so much harder because, just like me as an adult and the other adults that may be listening to this right now, i mean, it's hard to get away from your phone, and for teenagers to not be able to get on their phone and do all the social media things, i'm sure that would be even tougher. However, something that I'm scared of and I'm fearful of is our lack of actually connecting with people face to face and utilizing our voice and our words verbally instead of just typing things in and being virtual. So I think that having that connection is just so important within your family. 

Speaker 2: I'm super grateful to my girlfriend, who randomly mentioned this digital detox during our lunchtime together, and then for me to be like hmm, yeah, let's do this thing like the next day. There wasn't very much time to even contemplate doing it or not. May first started the following day And we just we did it. Like anything in life, when you challenge yourself in doing something new or taking something that you enjoy away, there's gonna be a rough time And, like I said, i would say the first week, and definitely the first weekend, was the roughest, but then it just became habit in knowing that we were not going to have anything digital going on in our household for the month of May. Music was okay, we had the dance party, but no outside chatter, sounds from media cluttering our brains. There was a part of me that would feel like I was missing out on what was going on with my friends, and I did have some friends reach out to me wondering how I was doing or if something was wrong. However, again we go back to connection, so I was able to actually speak to these people, call people, connect with them to find out what was going on in their lives, rather than relying on one of the social media platforms. 

Speaker 2: I was listening to another podcast of a family who had done a digital detox as well, and I really liked that. He said you know the digital detox is over, so now what? Right? And I liked how he talked about starting out with his family watching content that was slower. So like national geographic discovery, channel, documentary types of media. So slow content first and like working your way up to fast content, which would be something like, you know, a Marvel movie or something where it's like fast paced action. I really liked that. So, again, i have boys that are young. They actually enjoy watching slower content media, and we're going to be going on vacation for the month of June, so I really don't think TV is going to be a huge part of their lives for the month of June either. 

Speaker 2: I am going to have to just be mindful of how much I am getting on social media. Now for my business. I obviously need to get on in promoting myself and connecting with my community who is not here with me in Tennessee. But I've already told myself if I find myself going down that rabbit hole of I'm just sitting on the couch or sitting somewhere scrolling, then I need to get off and engage with my surroundings, engage with the people who are around me, take in the beauty that's around me and get my face out of my phone. 

Speaker 2: Overall, i enjoyed the digital detox And if it's something that you would also like to try but are a little nervous about trying it for a whole entire month, maybe just start with two weeks or maybe start with a month that only has 28 days, like February or something. But it really was great And I really am happy that we took on the challenge as a family. I hope you enjoyed today's podcast on digital detoxing and how it was for my family. If you enjoyed today's show, please feel free to leave a rating and a comment. I would love to connect with you.