- Oh my God.
My family group chat is basically just pictures of my dog
who's in Florida with my mom.
(gentle upbeat music)
Like the rest of the world,
my screens have been very comforting to me
during this COVID crisis,
more than they typically are.
But even with those very real benefits,
I'm still using my screens in ways that are not great
for my mental health.
- [Female Voiceover] You know, these numbers are big,
shockingly big.
- [Male Voiceover] More than 2,000 people are dying
on a daily basis in this country.
- So I've been trying a bunch of small, fun ways
to help me set boundaries with my screens,
and some of them are as simple
as picking a tech-free activity
to do at the end of the night,
something that I can look forward to.
For tonight's tech-free activity
we will be playing a game of chess,
which I learned how to play again last week.
I learned a long time ago, but have forgotten.
What are these ones again?
- They're pawns.
- These are only...
- Correct.
- What?
- I can take yours.
- I thought you could only go forward.
- You can take diagonally with these.
- You didn't remind me of that.
(ping-pong ball)
For tonight's tech-free activity
I am exploring the unfinished part of our parents' basement.
There's furniture everywhere. Very cool.
A weird painting of some kind of bird.
Having an activity planned each night has been key for me.
Well, for one, it stops me from having
all that blue light in my face before bedtime,
and it helps me deal with nighttime boredom,
which if I'm unprepared for leads me straight
into the black hole of my phone.
Boredom is not the only thing
that makes me stare into my screen for hours.
There's also stress.
And I've noticed that whenever I start to feel stressed,
I have this knee-jerk reaction to go to my screens
and start scrolling through social media feeds,
but that actually just makes my stress worse.
I read that short-term activities
with a clear beginning and end can help reduce stress
when things feel out of control.
Puzzles, for example, have a clear beginning and end,
though the end may take forever to reach.
- Yes, got another one.
- Woo!
The puzzle is of the Manhattan skyline.
Another great activity to do when you're bored or stressed
that also has a clear beginning and end is to make art.
You can paint something, you can draw,
you can do beads, or fill in a coloring book.
I've been bringing random clothes here
for the last four years just to have whenever.
So right now I'm going to go through every piece
and fold it or decide to donate it.
Collared shirt.
I don't remember the last time I've worn a collared shirt.
I feel like for a second vests were very popular.
There's no way that he has worn this in the last 10 years.
Abercrombie & Fitch.
There's a lot of funny stuff out there on the Internet,
and there's a reason watching that makes us feel better.
Laughter in the face of crisis can actually help you cope.
So, when I have been on my screens
and I see something that makes me laugh,
or something that I think is funny,
I've been taking a minute to share it with someone
in my life as a way to spread that positive energy.
Close your eyes while I pull up the video.
I don't want you to see any second of it.
(upbeat music)
- [Singer] I want you to--
- (laughs)
- Even though I hate it, dedicating like 10 minutes a day
to a quick workout has also helped me set boundaries
with my screens.
(upbeat music)
- [Woman] Let's do some jumping jacks,
a little bit of high cardio. Let's get it.
- Oh, I was going to make a joke. I thought that was it.
- Even though I am using screens for this workout,
it's screen time for a purpose.
So it's a chunk of time where I'm moving
and doing something good for my physical and mental health
rather than taking 10 minutes to zone out on my phone.
It's about setting boundaries with my screens,
not cutting them out completely.
That's just not realistic, nor is it actually helpful.
And then, and this is more of a mental reframe
than an action per se,
but I've been taking a moment every day
to remind myself that this is not forever.
It can be really easy, I think, to adjust
to this new normal, which is important,
we have to make the best of our current reality.
It's important to remember that soon I'll be able to meet up
with people in person and hug them and eat meals
next to each other instead of just through the screen.
It's important to remember that we'll have time
to connect without the presence of all these screens.
Hi.
- [Voice On Phone] Hi, how are you?
Just going to get my headphones.
- I'm glad you are calling me back.
- [Voice On Phone] I got so excited I just said,
"I'm going to go talk to Alexandra."
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