Hello!
You’re looking at a screen!
You’re reading this, and I wonder how you are feeling!
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Why did you choose to read this?
Are you scrolling through quickly?
When will you get off the screen? How will you decide?
I’m sure that at times you have come off a screen feeling inspired, energised and connected,
and at other times have come off feeling flat, lacklustre and disconnected, and wondering why you were even on it in the first place!
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We can use our screen time to connect with friends, learn new things, and get inspired.
And we can use our screen time to disconnect with ourselves and what is going on for us.
And our children are the same.
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Screen time can meet many needs for them – including learning, entertainment, stimulation, exploration, and creativity.
And they can also use screens to disconnect from themselves and their feelings and needs.
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We are having family device time right now and my children are chatting away to each other, laughing whilst they play minecraft together.
They had been playing together joyfully, with lots of laughter, for a couple of hours before they got on the screens, and that connection followed them into their device time.
I imagine that when our device time finishes soon, it will be fairly easy for me to go and connect with them both and ask them to get off.
They are feeling connected with each other, and so connection with them will probably be easy.
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Not all screen time is created equal! And we need different responses and actions at different times!
And to be able to respond differently means that we need to be connected with ourselves.
We need to be self-connected so that we can connect to what is going on for them, and then respond in an attuned way.
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I wonder if you’ve noticed the difference between when your child is engaged and connected whilst on a screen, perhaps whilst you are watching or playing something on it together,
and when they seem pretty disconnected from themselves on the screen.
And if you’ve found that different responses work in those different scenarios?
I’d love to hear from you!
Much love,
Marion xxx