How many hours a day are you staring at some glowing pixels instead of looking at the beauty of the world around you?
We are living in a time where it’s impossible to stop.
Your friends on the other side of the world can contact you in a matter of seconds.
But what about all the stuff that is already around you?
We all get caught up with the rush of the next push notification, what will it be is our concern! Click To Tweet
I am spending a lot of time in front of my computer, but to keep my self sane I needed an escape plan.
Also, whenever you are using a computer screen you should wear some blue light blocking glasses.
CHECK OUT THE BEST BLUE LIGHT BLOCKING GLASSES
I have already talked about digital detox here, but today we are going to talk about screenless hours.
What Are Screenless Hours?
Screenless hours is a time you need in your life to fix your day! You will completely disconnect to anything that has pixels on it.
You will need to use that time to completely observe the nature and world around you. If you want too, take paper notes documenting how you feel about this.
Imagining a world where people don't look at their #phones nowadays is impossible. Click To Tweet
Could you imagine going back of 60 years and not even have a television in certain countries?
The benefits you will get if you know how to manage these screenless hours can be huge.
How To Find The Will To Do Some Screenless Hours?
If you are a stage green or yellow on the spiral, you should be able to control your mind better than the stages below.
Finding the will to give up on glowing screens and pixel is a need and a priority.
You will need to first analyze how bad is your relationship with glowing screens.
- Are you using computers or phones for social media only?
- Are you using screens for work?
- The time you spend in front of a screen is productive or a total waste of time?
- Do you feel your head and eyes sore if you look at glowing screens too much?
- etc..
Ask yourself many questions and then find the best possible plan and timing to avoid screens.
Don’t avoid screens with no meaning, try to analyze if the time used with no screen in front of you is better worth.
Find The Best Timing
I can not tell you what’s the best timing to do this screenless hours thing.
For me, for instance, it works very well if I do one Sunday every other week with no screens. Also, no screens after 10 PM 2 times a week.
I try to exercise on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I usually do calisthenics. I usually do not touch screens on Sunday after 10 PM and on Thursday after 10 PM.
I know that I need to feel better on Monday and for the weekend. Meanwhile, on Wednesday I usually feel good no matter what.
Relaxing, spending time outside, or reading a book on Sunday and Thursday night makes me more powerful on Monday and Friday.
Then I have decided to not to use anything electronic and look at screens 1 Sunday every other week.
You will need to find the best combination for yourself. It will take a little bit of time depending on how conscious are you of your person.
How To Minimize The Impact Of Digital Screens
If you spend a lot of time in front of a glowing screen you should protect yourself a little bit.
There are many precautions you can take to minimize the impact of the glowing screen on your body.
It is proven that glowing screens are going to weaken your eyes. They produce blue light which makes your brain think that is still day even if it’s the night.
Blue light is the light produced by the sun during the day, and screens are big producers of blue light.
Staring at screens for too long will train your brain, in the long run, to never sleep and to be always vigilant and reactive at any time of the day.
- Something you can do to immediately to see some improvements is to install some free tools like f.lux.
You can also use night shift on your Mac and iPhone if you are an Apple person.
f.lux is one of my favorite tools, it will adapt the color of your screen based on your latitude!
The closest you get to your awake time, the more yellow and colorless the screen will become.
2. You can take advantage of the latest updates of websites and software where you can switch to night mode the UI of a lot of sites. (Even YouTube does that for instance).
3. Also, what I am doing is to use some special glasses that filter out all the blue light.
I did a lot of research before buying these glasses and there are two different schools of thoughts about them:
- some people say that these glasses are completely useless,
- some others say that have improved their lives a lot.
What I can say on my experience is that I have no idea if they work or not.
But they are absolutely filtering out all the blue light.
CHECK OUT THE BEST BLUE LIGHT FILTERING GLASSES
They will give you a blue light torch and you can test it yourself.
As a minimalist, you should think long term! Keep your sight in a good shape is definitely a huge investment.
It is 5 months that I am using these glasses quite regularly at least before bedtime. I can confirm that each time I use them, my eyes are less red than the other days when I don’t use them.
Also, I feel a little less headache compared to what I am used to if I don’t use them.
My sight is perfect so I don’t need glasses to see better.
These glasses are just a filter and cost only $20, they are definitely worth it.
Conclusions
There are many advantages of going screenless.
The most noticeable are the ones on your health. Being outside and in contact with nature will get you closer to the main purpose of what humans are made for: hunting, eating, sleeping and reproducing.
If you are spending a lot of time in front of a computer you should cut off all the BS and use the monitors for business or learning only.
Computers are a powerful tool you can use to learn any kind of skills nowadays.
You should use your computer or phone night shift feature and install f.lux on Apple devices and something alike on Windows.
You need to protect your sight with some glasses that have a blue filter lens on it.
I have found the best ones on the market and you can get them shipped home in a few days starting from $20.
This is a great investment and you should use them as much as you can at least before bedtime if you are going to use an electronic device.
You need to create your best schedule and the best timing for the screenless hour’s practice.
This depends on your lifestyle and needs. Try to keep it as a routine because it is definitely something that will improve your life.
If you liked this article please share it with your friends! Cutting off on screen time is a necessity and a very easy task to accomplish. Click To Tweet
If you are looking forward to more content, Bookmark this blog. Share it with your friends and spread some rumors about it. Also, make a comment, I’m curious to know what you think about this.
Further Readings:
You should start a blog or a website too. If you want to know why and how! Read my tutorial that will guide you on how to have a successful blog step by step:
How To Start A Successful Blog Step By Step
If it happens that you need to have a bank, here is the best bank you can have as a minimalist:
N26 Bank | The Minimalist Mobile Bank
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