Hello hello and welcome BACK to Into The Real World - a publication designed to get you off your screens and into the wild. This week, I started reading The Anxious Generation for my book club, and boy oh boy is it freaky. The full title is The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. TLDR: screens are bad for adults, and 10x worse for anyone under 18. I’ll have more to share once I finish reading it - it’ll definitely make an appearance in In The News.
Other than that, Boston weather finally broke 40 degrees this week so round of applause for that!
ANYWAY, on to this week’s rundown:
In The News:
I Tried Actually Reducing My Screen Time for 7 Days—Here’s How It Went
This is a great article highlighting the writer’s experience with actively trying to reduce her screen time and what she observed. It kind of echos everything we’ve been getting at in this newsletter, and I pulled a few of my favorite quotes below:
“Reducing screen time creates space for healthier habits. It’s a simple concept: with less scrolling, there’s more doing.
I realized that my go-to excuse that I “don’t have time” to do (insert whatever goal or task I’m procrastinating here) is B.S. I have plenty of time. I just wasted so much of it on my phone.”
Love it.
“I tried to avoid using any screens for entertainment”
This is a mindset shift I’ve been trying to work on lately. Using your screens as a tool, not as a form of entertainment. It’s tough.
“By day five, I also felt like I could focus deeply on one task in a way I couldn’t with my previous screen time habits.”
This ties in directly to last week’s newsletter and the importance of making space for deep thought. I also love that she started seeing changes within only five days. Instant gratification is so hot.
After reading this article, I thought “hm! Maybe I should use this exercise for Touch Grass this week!” But then I realized - you have to actively select “track my screentime” in your iPhone settings before it will track it and give you data. I turned my tracking on today and encourage you all to do the same so we can have a baseline next week before we get down and dirty.
Touch Grass:
Reading
Seems obvious but it’s not. Books are awesome. Find a genre you like and dive in. There’s really not much more for me to add here. I think physical books, e-readers (without blue light), and audiobooks all count. It’s kind of crazy if you think about how many great books there are out there and then how (in)frequently you read. I average about one book a month for the past three years, which means each year I only get to read twelve books. So pick books you love and start reading now (training camp starts now)!
Live from (Blank):
I went to the MFA this past weekend and spoiler alert I loved it. There was a Van Gogh exhibit on display and not to be dramatic but the painting pictured above is one of my favorites in the world and this is the second time I’ve gotten to see it (first was probably 7 years ago at the Barnes Museum in Philly). I straight up started crying at the exhibit because I thought the whole thing was so beautiful and well done. I also was exhausted. Either way - loved it! Museums are great to go alone or with others (I went with my family) and an excellent way to get out of your echo chamber and explore something new. You also practice paying attention to detail in museums which I realized I don’t do often in my day to day.
ITRW Official Rating: 5/10
Separation from Technology: 4/10
Ease of Stranger Interaction: 6/10
Community Building Environment: 4/10
ON THAT NOTE, have a stellar weekend everyone, let me know if you have any thoughts/comments/suggestions, and I look forward to hearing which parts of this newsletter resonated most with you all!
Til next time,
Jacky Norris