This completion of my ‘month of no screens’ is a milestone for me! I know now I can survive and quite enjoy doing it without movies, TV shows, or videos of any kind, AND with minimal use of computer and phone. Although I still feel the urge to watch, I can treat it as just that: an urge. I acknowledge it without judgment and then move forward self-compassionately and one-mindfully. Generally, the urge dissipates rather quickly if I do this.

The month was not without its problems. However,  I didn’t let my failures, big or small, prevent me from getting back on track and finishing strong. From a middle-path mindset, I label this a huge success! I would like to document the most relevant struggles I had and the lessons I learned from them.

• 3-year-old function overload – In the Meyer’s-Briggs personality system, every person has a cognitive function stack that is basically their base operating system. Personality Hacker describes this as the car model, comprised of the driver function, passenger function, 10-year-old function, and 3-year-old function. My 3-year-old function is extraverted sensing which deals with gathering new data from the outside world, something which can quickly overwhelm me. About a week into the challenge, I signed up to get some health insurance and was bombarded with texts and calls from insurance agents trying to sell me plans. After a while, the distress reached a critical point and I fell back into avoidance behavior. I started with just binge-listening to a sci-fi audiobook, but when I finished this, I gave into the craving for a TV show and flew through a few episodes. After this disaster, I finally realized what would have been the effective response in the first place: self-compassion. This was the only major upset I had this month.

• Computer work – I had a lot of trouble with the ‘no more than 10-minutes consecutively at the computer’ rule at first, since it seemed to disrupt my focus and flow. However, a week or two into the challenge I adjusted the parameters to 10+2 minutes and this worked remarkably better, as I was able to tie up any immediate loose ends in the remaining 2 minutes after the 10-minute timer beeped.

• Self-pleasuring aid – Regular sexual activity contributes both to one’s physical and mental health. I believe doing so in a committed relationship is ideal, but doing so casually with a partner or by yourself is preferable to abstinence. I did use YouTube videos for this purpose a few times, but only utilized audio and not video.

• Forgetfulness – More than a few times, I forgot to start a 10-minute timer when I sat down at the computer. Most of these times, at least, I did have the intention to start it but just didn’t press the button. When this happened, some visceral sensation would usually kick in after about 30 minutes that something was out-of-the-ordniary, namely, my using a computer for more than 10 minutes, which would prompt me to check my timer and see I hadn’t started it or, more rarely, simply realize that I didn’t think about it at all before starting.

What do I want my relationship with screens to be like moving forward? I have developed a few simple rules that I think should be effective.

1. Only watch videos for the purpose of entertainment on Philosophical Appointed Times (PATs). This means absolutely no entertainment from movies, TV shows, or other videos during the bulk of the week. I believe abstinence in this regard, considering my addiction, is crucially important for me.
2. Don’t watch videos for more than 1hr at a time during PATs, and make sure there is an activity or activities that take at least one hour between viewings. I am not ready at this point to completely remove all movies and TV shows from my life, but I am going to be vigilant about strictly regimenting my time spent in this regard.
3. Only watch subscribed YouTube channels during meals and for no more than 30 minutes per meal OR no more than 1 hr per day. I have a number of different channels that I am subscribed to for educational purposes +/- some entertainment that I am going to continue watching, but only during meals. I don’t want this to become a new addiction now that I have cut out cinema.
4. Use computer for no more than 30+5 minutes at a time. This amount of time still allows me to regulate my usage of the computer and do so when needed and important, but not as a default if possible.
5. If on & off computer completing a task, spend no more than 1 hr + 10 minutes at a time on the task that involves utilizing the computer. This is basically just an addendum to the previous rule that gives more flexibility if I am working on a project but not strictly at the computer.

If I don’t follow any of the above scenarios, which is highly possible, I purpose to not judge myself, but use the experience as an opportunity to practice self-compassion and learn whatever I need to from the failure.

Namaste.