Digital Detox – Why should I do it?

If digital entertainment has an unhealthy hold on your children, if they’re grumpy
or throw tantrums after screen time or are glued to their devices and bored by
everything else, a digital detox is for you. Total removal of all digital entertainment is a tested and proven way to get back into the driver’s seat when it comes to screen time in your home. Apps and games are engineered to release excessive amounts of dopamine in our kids’ brains. Post-screen tantrums are related to dopamine crashes. Your detox recalibrates the dopamine levels in your kids’ brains.

How do I do it?

Two weeks, zero digital entertainment. In two weeks, you can UNDO the tech trance. Unplug, cold-turkey. Notice your kids’ giftings, areas for improvements, and interests. Develop a list of screen free fun ideas. Open the books! Gently nudge your most reluctant readers into reading for pleasure. Using your observations during the detox, you will create a long-term plan where technology serves as a tool for you, rather than the other way around. Your plan will use the best parts of tech, and ditch the stuff that caused undesirable behaviors in your kids. The goal is to put screens back in their right place in your home. The detox is the bridge to the results you crave.

Does it really work?

Our detox resolved a substantial amount of our parent/child conflicts. It turned our non-readers into bookworms. It revealed new interests to hone. It gave our family a fresh start. Moods improved dramatically. Our daughter skyrocketed five grade levels in reading over several months.

I’ve coached many families through their own detoxes. All of them shared incredible results. We heard things like: “We have so much more time to connect as a family”, “Fighting is at an all-time low”, “My girls have stopped asking for iPads and started doing other activities,” and “Molly—I have new kids.” The detox is simpler than parents could hope, and change is more dramatic than they can imagine.

When is the best time to begin?

A long weekend or extended vacation is ideal, or whenever both parents can be home. One fun option is to kick off a detox with a camping trip, where no internet reception is available. That said, there is no perfect time to begin. So if you can’t start on a weekend or the idea of camping makes you want to cry, just get your spouse on board and then pick a date on your calendar. Any day that ends in “y” will do.

Are you sure I can do this?

Not only are you detox candidates, but we are also kindred spirits. I happen to enjoy living life by the seat of my pants. Give me some broad principles and let me live the day as it comes. If you are this way, you can absolutely detox—and with wonderful results. I do recommend having several ideas ready for when things get wild (screamers in a store, fighting in the car at the drive-up pharmacy, etc.). Have your stacks of library books, your mental ideas for screen-free fun, and plenty of conversations with your spouse about observations and ideas. You do not have to check every box in this book for your detox to be effective. You do need to stick to its principles.