School holidays can provide us with a unique opportunity to take some much needed downtime. The fast pace of modern life can take its toll on all of us, both parents and children.
I read in the Sunday Age over the Labour Day weekend about a family who had recently undertaken a ‘screen detox’, attempting to live for a week without mobile phone, computer or games console. While the family certainly admitted that the detox was not without its challenges, they all found they reengaged with each other in positive ways, and realised the experience brought them closer together as a family.
Big tech companies in Silicon Valley routinely send their employees to wifi-free retreats where they are forced to disconnect from the internet and their work, and spend some time operating at a slower pace. Perhaps when they are in this lower gear they might have the inspiration to come up with something wonderful, like Sir Isaac Newton sitting under the apple tree in Lincolnshire contemplating gravity when he left London to escape the Plague, or Australian doctor Graham Clark as he sat on a beach on holiday examining a shell when he had the inspiration to develop the cochlear implant.
Why not join me in undertaking a digital detox for a week in the holidays? And if inspiration doesn’t strike you while you take some downtime, perhaps you will just enjoy the extra time spent with loved ones.
Digital Education 