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What a ride! It's Week 7 of 7 of the #TechLifeBalance Challenges!
How are you feeling? Are you thinking any differently about your relationship to your phone? Have you tried a #TechShabbat (a day of rest, without screens), or replacing any screen time with other activities you enjoy?
If your answer is yes to any of these, we'd love to hear from you. Reply to this email, or take a 5 minute survey to be part of our new research with UPENN about the impact of turning off screens regularly.
If not, no worries. Life is busy. So pull out your calendar, find a weekend that works, and schedule a #TechShabbat -- a day with no screens, filled with people and things you love.
Why? We don't break habits (like checking our phones an average of 83 times a day) by simply removing them. We change habits by replacing them with (healthier) habits with better benefits.
So imagine yourself in 5 years....
First, imagine yourself continuing down the slippery slope of screen use.
Really paint that picture.
Keep going down this path. What about work boundaries? What about the hours you'll spend sucked into the feeds when you don't even mean to? What about the hours you'll spend sitting near the people you love, looking down at a screen instead of each other?
Now, imagine your life in five years if you start changing those habits.
Finally, imagine how all this impacts your character.
Your creativity, curiosity, appreciation, love, gratitude, self-control, perseverance, perspective, empathy, and presence.
So what kind of person do you want to be?
We launched these challenges, and the sixth annual Character Day, asking, what's the relationship between character, social emotional wellbeing, and screen use? When and how does technology enhance who we are and who we want to be in the world? And when and how is it better to turn it off?
We're immensely inspired by what we're seeing and learning so far -- thank you to the tens of thousands of schools, companies, homes, and individuals that participated in Character Day and/or the challenges -- and we're just at the beginning of this exciting exploration.
What's Next?
New Films, New Content, New Ideas
In January 2020, our team at Let it Ripple (501c3) will be back with new films for The Dear Parent, Dear Student, Dear CEO series, Dear Legislator, Dear Fellow Human film series, new discussion content, and new ways to unpack these ideas in all different settings.
In the meantime, we're looking forward to taking a little breath and to hearing from all of you about your experiences and thoughts on the relationship between character, screens, and humanity. We'll be taking it all in, and -- we're Let it Ripple -- rippling it back out in new ways.
Take a 5min Survey for New Research
Join our new study on the impact of turning off screens regularly, and its relationship to character development. The survey takes 5 minutes, and you will truly be helping undertand this relationship and the science, behavior changes, and benefits involved. Take 5 minute survey.
24/6 Book Tour
Join Tiffany in person for her 24/6 Book Tour. The book, and what she'll be talking about on tour, is about the science, philosophy, history, and ideas around time, tech, rest, and proposals for moving forward in the tech industry and society. Below is a partial list of events. Order the book and find full list at 24SixLife.com.
Oct 18: 1:30pm Berkeley, CA | UC Berkeley
Oct 22: 7pm Toronto, Canada | Indigo Books
Nov 2: 10am San Francisco, CA | Kidney Foundation Author's Luncheon
Nov 9: 12:30pm San Francisco, CA | WIRED25
Nov 12: Mill Valley, CA | The Hivery
Nov 21: Washington, DC | The Peace Institute Family Safety Institute
Dec 12: Boston, MA | MA Women's Conference