Too Much Screen Time

During the Summer it was really easy to minimise mine and Aaron's screen time.  We were in the park or in the garden in the paddling pool, or out with friends nearly every day.

The last few weeks Autumn hasn't stopped us either.  We've been to the Circus, (Santus Circus) to the Zoo (Paradise Wildlife Park) and to Tumble in the Jungle (soft play) three times.  And all of that is just in the last fortnight.  Oh and a day spent in Ikea which Aaron really loved.  I've been to several bloggy events too. We've been busy.

BUT very recently, we are falling back into habits of old, and if it is raining outside, Aaron's watching TV and I am on computer.  It's not the way I want to live my life.

I bought him paint pots for the first time, in Ikea the other day.  I have finally decided I need to do craft and baking with him. Both of which I am good at, but I have an inexplicable fear of doing them with Aaron.  When I visit a blog, if it turns out to be a craft blog I run a mile as if it is contagious and I don't know why.  Very very odd.

It was late before we got back from Ikea. Already dark.  The dining table was covered in stuff, so Aaron just set up on the floor. He was too excited to leave brand new paint neglected till the morning.

His painting would probably be better if I had done it with him before, but then he is only 3 years of age and was simply experimenting with all of the colours and enjoying using the brushes which were new too.  I got that circle pot thingy at a church charity event years ago (a bring and buy) so it was the pots of paint themselves (on the right) that I bought in Ikea.  It was hard work trying to get Aaron not to mix the colours but he was relatively good.  I suppose because he paints at nursery.

Anyway I was recently sent a survey, and there are answers on there that don't at all surprise me like
"Do you ever use the internet to catch up on the news?" 85.6% of the 1,000 people asked said yes.  For me my 1st port of call would be bbc.co.uk especially for weather (their 5 day forecast is SUPERB).  The survey found that the top 3 social media sites were Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest in that order.  That saddens me as I have never done anything with my blog's Facebook page and really haven't got my head around Pinterest at all.  A bit of love from me, in those two areas would probably do my blog some good, but remember the subject of this blog post = too much screen time.  I have to draw the line SOMEWHERE! A massive 63.4% of those surveyed said that Facebook was one of their top 3 social media sites! From a personal point of view I can relate - I am on there a lot, although (1) I don't use it for my blog and (2) I don't currently have it on my phone (Twitter neither) as the internal memory space on my phone does not support it.  Before my phone got filled up and before my memord card developed a problem, at one point I had G+, Facebook AND Twitter on my phone.  Suffice to say the world new what I had for breakfast.  I am glad that screen time is only now an issue when I am indoors.  The answer to this question actually really surprised me "Do you browse the internet on a second device whilst watching TV? E.g. smartphone, tablet?" Only 47.4% of people said yes.  I can often be found tweeting my way through Coronation Street, Eastenders and Downton Abbey.

I think I am going to find rainy day things for Aaron and I to do indoors and TRY my hardest to limit my computer use, as much as possible, till after he's gone to bed!


This post was a PR Collaboration, but all words are my own